Speak the Truth
by Grand Phoenix
Summary: Always look beneath the underneath. What you know and what you don't know can often be dangerous and misleading. Both Sakuya and Eirin will be forced to remember, and in the midst of the storm the truth shall be set free. /AU; retcon/
1. I: Layers Upon Layers

**Disclaimer:** All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

_A Quick Note on the Timeline: This story is set in an alternate universe in which the events Imperishable Night DID NOT happen; however, most of the canon backstory remains in tact. Kaguya still drinks the Hourai Elixir and is sent into exile for one thousand years. Eirin is still sent to Earth with the Lunarian emissaries to retrieve Kaguya after her crime is forgiven, but Eirin does not join Kaguya in exile until much, much later. In addition to this, Sakuya becomes resident to the Scarlet Devil Mansion when it is already in Gensokyo in contrast to before the Mansion crosses the Border._

_First revision: 12/21/2010_

_Second revision: 3/28/2012_

* * *

**Speak the Truth  
**(also entitled "The Most Truthful Lie")

* * *

_"It is always the best policy to speak the truth – unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar."_  
- Jerome K. Jerome

_"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."  
_-Vladimir Lenin

* * *

**I.  
**_Layers Upon Layers_

**April 11, 1970 A.D.**

The eternity that was night was about to break.

They sat at the rooftop's edge, absorbed in the blue-green orb suspended amidst a black abyss. Hurried footsteps, shouted commands, and frantic whispers were lost upon them, but they were aware of what was being carried. They had good reason to be up here, away from the noise and general chaos.

They had also good reason to be alone, where none but the gods and the universe could hear.

"The Court continues to grow restless with each update the couriers bring," said the eldest of the pair. "These past ten years have not been kind to them, and it is with this latest development that they are on edge."

"What do you mean?" asked the younger.

"Do you remember when I told you how the Earthlings sent their vehicles and astronauts to the surface? How they gathered samples of moonrock to bring back to study and how they marked their descent with footprints and the country flag?" The younger nodded. "Well, all those space shuttles have landed on the outskirts of the Moon. However, the Court has learned that an Earth ship is on a direct course for the Capital."

The younger's brow lifted in surprise. "Are you saying that…?"

"Yes. The path which connects the Moon and the Earth is close to revealing. By the time it opens the shuttle will be within sight for all Lunarians to see, and that is what worries them so. Our culture, our technology, and our secrets are at great risk of being exposed. If that happens—"

"Then the Outside World will become aware of our existence."

"It is not just that." The elder stared grimly up at the stars, at the planet called Earth. "Lord Tsukuyomi has proposed the IGWD, the Intergalactic Warfare Department, to destroy the ship by any means necessary."

"The IGWD?" the younger exclaimed. "Will that not make things worse? If the Department neutralizes the ship, won't it put us in a precarious position?"

"Very much so. I tried to dissuade Lord Tsukuyomi from going through with it; that the implications of this action would endanger the stability we've established long ago, but he would hear none of it. Even so, it is too late to change his mind and those of the Court."

"In that case…we could be facing a potential war toward—no, the wholesale slaughter of the human race. The repercussions…could be unimaginable."

The elder made a noncommittal sound.

"This proposal will affect everyone, won't it?" the youngest continued ponderously. "It would change everything we've known to do, everything we've known to hear and learn around us and outside us. If it should come to pass, the world as we know it will never be the same. Our home…will become a most unfamiliar sight."

Together the elder and the younger watched the heavens move as a herculean beast would roam – silently, listlessly, a shadow among the blackest darkness. High above where the tumult could not reach them, they breathed in the sterile air, listened to the beatings of their hearts and the thoughts which ran like powerful currents in the eternity that was night.

"There is hope, yet," remarked the eldest softly. The younger's head lifted in a curious motion. "If I cannot change the inevitable with words, then I will do whatever it takes to change it with my own two hands."

"Master?"

"I will not stand by while our kinsmen plunge us deeper into senseless violence. It will be a difficult task, but I have faith in my abilities. However…for what I plan to do, I do not think I can do it alone." The elder faced the younger. "Will you not help me, my friend? There is no one else I can turn to."

"What of Lady Yorihime and Lady Toyohime? Surely you can go to them—"

"_No_. Though wise of mind and strong in body, they cannot find out. I trust them and I love them, but it is you I need to depend on the most. If you join me, I will explain everything you need to know. What say you?"

"I don't know," said the younger slowly, looking at the elder. "With the way things are, the odds are against us. Except…I have no desire to fight alongside our brethren. I only wish to live in peace with you and the Sisters Watatsuki. Whatever your plan may be, I will follow it to the letter. For you, my Master, I would do anything."

The elder smiled warmly and ran a delicate hand through the younger's hair. "I know you would, my dear, and for that you have my thanks. Now come. There is something I must show you…."


	2. II: Irregular Pieces

**Disclaimer: **All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

_Revised 12/22/2010_

_A/N: My thanks goes to the reviewer Sect for pointing out the errors in the timeline (i.e. changing 'thirty years ago' to 'forty years ago' in the coming revisions)._

**

* * *

**

**II.**  
_Irregular Pieces_

**40 Years Later  
****June 11, 2010**

This place, Sakuya deduced, was an absolute _mess_.

Standing in the threshold between indoors and the tranquility that was the Forest of Magic, she wondered how – and _where_ – she was going to start. She didn't so much think of Marisa as the type to hoard, but seeing the stacks of bulging cardboard boxes, the clothes-strewn floor, and other miscellaneous crap lying about in such disarray was _unbelievable_.

And here she thought the Mansion's staff was terrible at maintaining order.

Lady Remilia had to be mad. Yes, she had to be, no doubt about it. How else could she explain it? If something had to be done, it had to be done on the behalf of the Lady and for the safety of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Except…nothing had threatened the Lady or the Mansion since this past spring. What could have possibly drove her to decide on _this_ course of action?

No matter how many times she asked, Lady Remilia refused to answer. She blew her off with the wave of a hand, ushering her to be on her way and _out my sight before I change my mind_. She wanted to question why, but what was the point of pursuing? It was best to not push her luck with the old vampire. After all, you can't always expect to get what you want.

Staring at the scene as if it were a page from a children's pop-up book, Sakuya came to the dreaded realization that life got a lot more difficult to understand.

'_Gods, I might actually need your help….'_

Sakuya sighed and stepped inside. Her footsteps were muffled by a sea of long-sleeved slips, tattered skirts, and – a quick glance down, then away, her face aflame – laced panties.

As she slowly waded across the floor, she took in the house's state. How was Marisa able to live like this, moving around and going about her daily routine? How could she find anything?

Something caught her eye, and she slowed down to look. A few books lay neatly side by side on a sweating icebox, sitting in the sun and collecting fine sheets of dust. Sakuya glanced over the titles only to shake her head and smirk. It amused her how the magician kept other people's possessions in order but could not pick up after herself. The thought struck her as both ironic and pathetic.

She came to a stop in the middle of what had to be a tea room (if she were so inclined to guess). She cast a few cursory glances here and there. The quietude was broken by afternoon birdsong and the rustling of trees.

Sakuya set her arms akimbo and huffed. "This is going to take all day, and I don't even have the time for that." She scratched her cheek and allowed her eyes to wander the area. "I really don't want to do this…."

She paused in mid-gesture, a sudden revelation dawning upon her. _'Wait a minute.'_ She reached behind her and searched beneath the bow secured round her figure. Muscle memory led her palm to caress its smooth surface, a cool sensation she had always been intimately familiar with, and draw the knife out with a graceful flourish.

Sakuya brought it to close to her face, studied the silver blade gleaming in the sun like unearthed diamonds and the narrow square handle that fit perfectly in her grasp. From her lips a thoughtful hum slipped past and vibrated. _'Would I be able to find anything this way?'_

The gears in her mind churned and creaked. There was so much stuff, stuff that was crammed in nooks and crannies, stuff that littered small end-tables and draped over curtain beams, the lone cabinet in the corner, and on the ceiling rafters. Would Marisa notice anything amiss? Would she even care?

Glancing between the knife and the horrendous clutter, Sakuya made her decision. She closed her fist on the handle and channeled manna into the blade.

'_I doubt it.'_

When she felt the magic peak, she took aim and flung the knife at a random pile.

* * *

It was another day in the Forest of Magic for Marisa Kirisame. There was an endless supply of mushrooms, growing on wizened, moss-covered trees, beds of fungi, the ground, and through the holes of logs made there by hungry insects. So to speak this was nature's territory, and whenever she would make the return trip to gather more of the phantom stinkhorns there would be twice the amount plucked from their roots.

On the plus side, she appreciated the silence. Here in the woods, away from the humdrum of the Human Village, she could think and organize her thoughts accordingly – where and when she could 'borrow' Alice's books, how she could 'take' more than enough _sake_ from Reimu's cabinets, what flowers she could 'pick' from the Hakugyokurou gardens to add to her concoctions, the possibilities were endless! And it was such a beautiful day, too – blue sky, yellow sun, light breeze, and nary a cloud in the sky, so what better way to spend these twenty-four hours than picking mushrooms and fighting evil lurking in every shadowed corner?

Marisa couldn't think of any other ways, but she was content to settle with just this, on her knees and up to her elbows in dirt by tall, wild grass.

She was holding one such specimen in her hand, turning it over and studying its purple cap and black spots (that looked suspiciously like beady black eyes) with piercing intensity. "I don't know," she said to herself, stroking her chin. "I've never seen the likes of you before. You don't look like you want to be trusted. Then again," she looked to the sky briefly, "I have no idea what properties you might have in store, so…what the heck? I'm taking you with me!" Beaming, she dropped the toadstool in a basket filled to the brim of other peculiar fungi and resumed scavenging. "I'll only need a few more. Then I can go back and try my hand at making that old family recipe: three-layered mushroom pie!"

_KABOOM!_

"Eh?" Marisa straightened up and glanced left and right. "What was that?"

_BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!_

"What in the world?" It wasn't close by, so it had to be coming from behind. The witch stood and turned around—

_**BANG!**_

Just in time to see the top of a brick chimney rocket above the canopy on a plume of billowing grey smoke.

_Her_ brick chimney.

"MY HOUSE!" she squawked shrilly, eyes going wide and jaw unhinging. Without a second thought she was in motion, kicking up grass and dirt clods and a basket of colorful mushrooms in her wake.

* * *

Not too far from the Forest of Magic, two girls were taking a stroll on one of Gensokyo's many dirt roads, embroiled in a conversation one would not expect to venture on.

"Wait, you want to do _what now_?" Momiji posed disbelievingly to the crow tengu next to her.

"I want to write something different for a change," Aya boldly answered the wolf youkai's question. "I want something that'll shine like a diamond in the rough, something that is going to make humans and youkai alike think twice about the material they're reading. I'm striving to inspire awe and wonder into the minds of my readers – from the smallest child to the oldest man, I dare to aim my pen true to the tell-tale heart!"

"And," Momiji stressed, "how are you going to do that?"

"I don't know," Aya told her honestly, "but I'm going to find that something. And when I do, it's going to suck the very breath from peoples' bodies! Oh, I can just see it now!"

Momiji smirked. "So do I. The look you'll have when a door slams in your face will make itall the more palpable."

"Like I care about your opinion," the tengu huffed. "As long as I have subscribers, I'll keep on writing. The truth is the truth and nothing but!"

The wolf-girl burst out laughing, doubled over and clutching her sides. "Subscribers? You must have had too much mountain air, Aya! The only subscribers I see are the burnable trash pits!"

"There are a few who believe in my cause! Like Lord Tenma and that girl – whatshername again? – Ha…Ha…ah, Hatate! Yes, that's right! Hatate! She has the heart and soul to pursue what is always fleeting, riding on winds not even I can strain to hear!"

"Himekaidou goes out of her way to separate truth from fiction. You just have bad hearing."

"Bad hearing!" Aya sputtered indignantly. "I'll have you know we tengu have _exceptional_ hearing! We live with the wind, for the wind, and abide by the wind. Bad hearing, much less deafness, is simply unheard of!" Then, grumbling, "Unlike a certain breed of canids…."

A downward pull of the lips, followed by a twitch in white wolf ears. "At least I _pay attention_ to the world _around me_."

"My world is the world you and every human, youkai, and hellspawn inhabit!" The crow-girl stopped and knocked her forehead against the other, red irises glaring. "I'm not daft!"

Momiji returned the favor and pushed back. "Then get your head out of the clouds and keep that damn rope tightened down!"

_**KABOOM!**_

"Huh?" Both youkai voiced simultaneously. At the corners of their eyes, they caught sight of a pillar of smoke belching into the air…and a rectangular object which burst into square detritus like a fireworks display gone wrong. It was preceded by a faint shriek of _"My house!"_

Momiji stared at the curling wisps. "What was that just now?"

Aya breathed in a deep dose of humid summer air, then exhaled loudly and thumped a fist to her breast. "That, my flea-bitten colleague, is the sound of a BIG SCOOP!"

"Big Scoop?" was the incredulous response. "You call someone being in imminent danger a Big Scoop?"

"The riskier a situation is, the more info I can get my hands on!" As if they had lives of their own, her fingers dove into the folds of her jacket and produced a pencil riddled with teeth marks and a crumpled, yellowed notepad. "This is how _all_ great stories are made!"

"_All_ your stories are made of bullsh—hey come back here! I'm not finished yet!"

They were off the road and galloping into the forest, trees and vegetation running into messy watercolor strings. With the wind howling at their backs, they broke through the greenery like hunters on the prowl.

Moments later, they emerged into a wide clearing. Or rather, Aya roared out into the open, tripping on her own feet and flailing her arms about to preserve what little balance she had. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" the tengu yelled. "I HAVE A FEW QUESTIONS I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU _whoooaa_…." All thoughts of garnering the Big Scoop were sucked dry like a hungry leech latched to her veins. She quickly collected herself, slowed to a stop, and stared.

"There you are!" Momiji panted. "By the Gods, woman, you could have at least slowed down _son of a bitch, what happened?_"

What they saw was the smoldering ruins of a house. The foundations and the skeletal, wooden frame remained largely intact, if not slightly blackened by some fierce heat. However, what drew the girls' attention was the amount of junk littering the lush, grassy floor – towels, door knockers, _taiko_ drums, empty beer bottles, torn pillows, cracked gargoyle statues, chipped chinaware, dead fish, spines of books, scattered paper, rusted swords, glittering jewels, dented pots and pans, colorful multitudes of brassieres and underwear, there were so many other things to name!

But their awe-stricken stupor was not meant to last; a voice – brash and furious – cut the silence in half as if it were made of paper. "Who the hell are you?"

Aya was the first to recover. She got a good look at the person who called out and instantly recognized her. The big black witch's hat; the long blonde hair wrapped in an intricate braid; the pretty, youthful features twisted in knotted brow and ugly scowl. Yes, this was the one and only Marisa Kirisame. Like all facts and rumors she had heard tell of this human via the wind, carrying whispered words and broken fragments as it always did, but she also learned via word of mouth passed along the mountain from fellow tengu to fellow wolf and so forth. And here she was, standing before Marisa Kirisame herself, small and beautiful and terrifying as a pissed off siren.

This was how all great stories began. With one simple question, she could learn a lifetime's worth of information. Secrets, desires, opinions, ambitions, there was so much she could unravel…!

First impressions are meant to leave a lasting mark on a new acquaintance, so Aya put on her best smile – friendly, caring, and maybe a little flirty – and said, "Well, miss, I'm Aya Shameimaru, and this overtly fluffy gel next to me is Momiji Inubashiri. We run the Bunbunmaru Newspaper over on Youkai Mountain, and we were wondering if we could—"

"Aw crap, a committee!" Marisa blurted rudely, then, realizing her mistake, swore loudly. "Goddammit, Sakuya, what on Gensokyo were you thinking, waltzin' in here as if you owned the place? Now you've gone and attracted solicitors!"

"Actually, we were just passing by," Momiji chimed in. "We had no intentions of stopping" she sent a stern glare at Aya "but we heard an explosion and came to see what caused it."

Marisa barked a harsh laugh. "_You_ wanna know _who_ caused _this mess_? She's standing right behind me!" She pointed an accusing finger at the maid, who stood motionless and silent as a statue. "And the best part is I _caught_ her red-handed!"

Aya stole a brief glance at the perpetrator, and the perpetrator, whose name was Sakuya, glanced back. Her eyes were a unique shade of blue–deep and dark like twilight descending on a clear, star-studded horizon –framed by fronds of lustrous, almost metallic silver hair. She appeared to be the epitome of a maid, from the clothes she wore and the straightness of her spine to the slender fingers folded upon the handles of a beaten weave basket filled with odds and ends (which had to have come from the house). Even the air between them, as their gazes met, seemed to exude a particular elegance and subsumed nobility only she was susceptible to.

A cold shiver wracked Aya's shoulders. Those eyes were so hypnotic, and yet…so powerful, as if they could open the windows to the soul and take a peek at each individual piece. Who are you? What are you? Why are you here? How are we connected? Why…

Why hadn't she ever heard of this Sakuya?

Her mind returned to its proper track of reality when Sakuya leveled a frown at the black-clad magician. "It was the perfect chance for me to collect what was needed for Milady. There was no other way to go about this."

"What a bunch of bull!" exclaimed Marisa. "I saw what you were doing a mile away!"

"Wait a minute," Momiji interrupted. "You said you were gathering things for a lady. Who is she, and what does she need these things for?"

"I am a servant to Remilia Scarlet, who is mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion," the maid answered sveltely. "She requested I purloin Miss Kirisame's possessions in hopes we could build a ship to the Moon."

"A ship?" Aya repeated, and together she and her colleague looked up into towering pine needles and endless azure. "What's on the Moon?"

"I do not know. I asked Milady the same question, but to no avail. Regardless I performed my duty, but when I arrived Miss Kirisame was present. Knowing her, I did not dare repeat the previous experiences, so I waited in the woods for her to leave. And when she did, I took advantage of the opportunity and snuck into the house—"

"Only for _her_ to _blow it up_ with those goddamned _knives_!" Marisa furiously described, gesticulating as if she had caught on fire.

"Your abode is like the Ninth Circle itself," Sakuya added indifferently. "What did you expect me to do?"

"_To at least keep it in one piece!_ Now I gotta go out and Master Spark half the forest…again!"

"Did you not have help building the first time?"

"NO! It was abandoned when I got here!"

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing."

"You think?"

"Hey now, ladies, settle down," Aya gestured with a placative wave of her hands. "I think we can resolve this quite peacefully…."

Marisa nodded. "Yeah, if she forks everything over to their _rightful owner_."

"If I remember correctly," Sakuya said in that blasé tone, "_How to Thwart Voodooism with the Scientific Wonders of Science_ has not been on our library's shelves for the past two years."

"You can have it back when I'm dead! It's not like the rest of this junk is going anywhere!"

"That's _beside_ the point. When the ship is complete and has served its purpose, I will return everything to where it belongs…even if I should have to wait by your bedside, watching you take your final breath." Then she turned up her nose and breathed in the sudden chill breeze which teased the flaps of her skirt and stroked the bowed crowns of the forest.

Aya gawped and repressed the urge to grab her camera and snap a photo.

Momiji took the whole scene in with a thoughtful frown.

Marisa remained where she was, clenching her fists and casting a petulant glare at Sakuya's way.

A bird twittered a merry tune somewhere in the branches. The leaves whispered. A sheet of paper rolled end over end across the field, goaded by the wind.

Sakuya sighed. "Well then, I believe I shall be on my way. I do not wish to keep Milady waiting. If you'll excuse me, Miss Kirisame, Miss Shameimaru and Miss Inubashiri," she bowed her farewell to them and departed.

"Hold up!" said Marisa. Sakuya regarded her with a questioning brow. Marisa held out her hand. "The Hakkero, hand it over." She indicated the tip of an octagonal block poking beneath a coil of cable wire. Sakuya didn't protest. She reached in, pulled forth the Hakkero, and deposited it in the witch's waiting palm. "Thank you."

"You have my word," said the maid, honestly and truly.

"Yeah, whatever. Now go. Scram."

She needn't be told twice. Like a shadow, she entered the Forest of Magic and disappeared.

When a minute had passed, Momiji broke the ice. "Well," she said, "that was…weird."

Aya nodded, scratching her pencil across the notepad's blank pages. "Hmmm, yes, very weird indeed. Perhaps weird enough to make the front page…."

"You're still here?" said Marisa.

Aya perked her head up. "Hm? Oh, yes. We're still here."

"Then get the hell off my property."

"Eh? But we're not finished with our report!"

"_Our_ report?" Momiji parroted.

"Oh, I think you're finished," said Marisa, and the brim of her hat slipped over her eyes. The Hakkero glowed in her hands.

"Ah, but there's still so much to do!" Aya reasoned with a panic. "Questions, observations, pictures; this marvelous scene of chaos is a literary gold mine! We'd just like to have a few minutes with you—!"

"Aya, you _idiot—!_" Momiji cried above the whine of absorbing manna.

Marisa scowled and lifted the glowing furnace.

* * *

Sakuya emerged from the Forest of Magic and headed in the direction of the dirt road Aya and Momiji recently trekked. She had acquired what she believed would be beneficial to building the ship. She could only hope that the launch would be successful and that Lady Remilia would do whatever she needed to on the surface.

As a matter of fact, Miss Shameimaru made a valid point. What could _possibly_ be on the Moon? What could her mistress want from a world beyond their own?

Nature put in its two cents in the form of an abrupt explosion.

_**BOOM!**_

Somewhere in the distance, a pair of voices intermingled together:

"_Ayayayayaya!_"

"Damn it, Aya!"

Sakuya listened to the short-lived exchange by the roadside, head tilted in bemusement. She waited there, perhaps to see if she would hear anymore, but any other snatches of conversation were immediately drowned out by a second, fainter blast.

In a rare display of outward emotion, Sakuya Izayoi smirked.

People in Gensokyo were just so strange….


	3. III: Connect the Dots

**Disclaimer: **All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

_Revised 12/22/2010_

* * *

**III.  
**_Connect the Dots_

The Scarlet Devil was oddly quiet today.

No, mused Patchouli Knowledge , it wasn't just today. As a matter of fact, she had been like this for the past two months, slowly putting space between herself and the Mansion's staff as days turned into weeks and unopened flowers bloomed in needed sun and rain. She was more prone to bouts of deep listlessness, staring off into indescribable space which only a loud, close voice could steal from, and, when awoken, forgetfulness. Even when she hunted in the dead of night, she would be gone for hours, and she would not return to the Mansion until much later, sometimes staying out as long as the first tell-tale signs of approaching dawntide.

And when she did, there would a noticeable lack of blood on her person.

This gave the staff cause to worry, and soon enough rumors drifted through the air and in and out of ears. Had the Mistress taken ill? Had the Mistress not found prey to sate her hunger? Was the Mistress suffering an acute case of insomnia? None could say for certain, not even the gatekeeper who saw the girl walk the Mansion's lone dirt path under an eave of clouds and stars. But Patchouli was a keen observer. After spending a few sleepless nights watching the gates through her bedroom window, the librarian came to the conclusion that Lady Remilia Scarlet was not sick, despondent, or restless.

No. It was something much, much deeper. Not too long ago, the librarian made the attempt to learn what burdened the vampire. The staff was committed to their duties, and for that she was thankful she could seize the opportunity and shoot for the sky without the presence of others.

And yet….

Even now, as she stood at the threshold of the girl's bedroom, Koakuma at her side and worryingly wringing the front of her smock, Patchouli knew the answers to those questions.

Without removing her gaze from the window, Lady Remilia lifted her small white hand and pressed it against the pane. Outside the night was still, frozen in time save for the infrequent prattle of nightingales and lonely owl. The land, green and fertile and wide, was awash in naked moonlight. And perched on its seat in heaven, where no cloud tarried but the map of star-studded infinity was the moon – round and startlingly silver.

"One more day," Remilia said aloud. "One more day, and it will be full. It will be…quite a sight to behold, won't it, Patchy?"

"Yes," Patchouli said, not skipping a beat. "With the way the weather is, it's sure to be a most beautiful night."

"Beautiful," the vampire murmured, her eyes fixed to her fingers sliding down the length of the glass.

"Yes," Patchouli said, her violet gaze softening. "Beautiful."

"Ah." And Remilia said no more.

And just like before, Patchouli Knowledge did not press her. She turned and left her Mistress as she was, retracing her steps back to the library.

She was halfway down the corridor, lost in the echoes of her journey, when she numbly realized Koakuma had her hand in hers. The sympathy in her nubile face reflected like the jewel in the sky their mistress was so fixated on.

Patchouli looked away.

She should have known better.

* * *

The following morning found Hatate Himekaidou opening the doors of Bunbunmaru Newspaper.

Daylight was going to break very soon, and the providing staff would not be far behind to begin the new work day. Unfortunately, (and, the tengu noted dryly, not for the first time) Aya and Momiji had been gone longer than they had intended. She had waited for them long after the employees punched out and left, stealing glances at the nail-mounted clock and rifling through personal memos and requests stacked in the OUT box. Two hours slipped past the cracks in the proverbial hourglass, and Hatate – tired and frustrated and wondering _what does a vision quest have to do with getting inspiration?_ – locked the building in her departure and welcomed the sweet nirvana found in the folds of her precious _futon_.

Five hours later, and they still weren't back. Regardless, the office wasn't going to open by itself. Hatate pushed through the doors and into the hallway. The floorboards echoed with the hollow clapping her _geta_ made, taking her past rows of elegantly woven tapestries of rolling green pastures and wide blue skies. It calmed her tremulous mind as she made a right on the adjoining T-junction and entered the print area. Being the largest room in the building, it was host to a number of printing presses – mimeographs, color printers, risographs – and there was enough space for one to move about. Off to one side, set apart from the machines were three wooden desks, each decorated with a name template made of orbicular granite.

Taking it all in, Hatate couldn't help but sigh. Unless Aya and Momiji procured something big, it was going to be another slow day. At least the hours she put in would be worth its salt in the form of a nice fat paycheck, even if half (if not most of) the time was spent getting paid by playing word chains or trying to see which person would get violated the fastest via _kanch__ō_.

So she strayed over to the centermost desk – her desk, as a matter of fact. Not because the name template read as so, but because the surface was clear and polished, whereas Aya's could be compared to the aftermath of a powerful thunderstorm. A lake of strewn papers, an upturned _sake_ dish, a dirty magazine…and Shameimaru called herself a journalist? Disgusted, Hatate turned and surveyed Momiji's work-space to her left. The wolf tengu was by no means disorderly, but the heap of papers and tipped ink blotter indicated she had been dragged off by Aya, who was undoubtedly in a rush to search for that One Big Scoop everyone and their mother _had_ to hear.

'_It's no wonder Momiji has such a low opinion of her,'_ mused Himekaidou. _'I'd hate it too if I had to do something against my will, especially if that something involves one of Aya's late-night _researches_.'_ She scowled. _'Che, and here I thought she was_ above_ that, but I guess I was wrong. Aya is no different than a chronic liar.'_ And somehow, in a way she didn't think possible, it hurt to accept that fact of life. Resistance really was futile.

'_I should get those presses up and running. Once that's done, I'll go and see if Lord Tenma's couriers left anything in the depository. Maybe I'll find something worth writing about.'_ After giving one last look at her pristine office desk, Hatate went about undergoing her first task.

She had not even taken three steps when a loud shatter pierced her ears.

"What in Sojobo's name—?" The tengu whirled around, mind racing and sowing seeds of panic. There was a window that was situated directly behind her work area, an inch thick and magically reinforced. What could have broken through the barrier?

She expected something unknown, something dangerous. She expected to stare into the face of some hungry youkai and its maw of deadly sharp teeth salivating at the sight of her. Hatate was no stranger to battle when it came to dealing with feral creatures, but she had only experience exorcising spirits that either escaped Hell or wandered Gensokyo as a wild animal would. Whatever it was, if it was a living, breathing youkai, Hatate was in deep trouble. So she braced herself and beheld the mystery intruder.

She was greeted to the sight of Aya Shameimaru lying among the broken glass. "Aya? What are you—?"

"YOU NEVER SAW US!" the reporter shouted. She scrambled off the floor and shoved Hatate aside, all the while uttering "Ayayayayaya~!" Then, after seeing she was in the wrong direction, she twisted round, kicked off the linoleum, and darted past Hatate. Aya hopped her messy desk and vanished under it, only to reappear a second later with her head peeking over the counter. "WE WERE NEVER HERE!" She ducked out of view and didn't come up.

"Wh-Wh-What's going on?" Hatate spluttered. "Why are you—"

"Do as she says!" said another voice, and through the window Momiji jumped in. She fell to all fours and crawled haphazardly beneath the wooden table.

Before Hatate could put in any more words, a blonde-haired girl in witch's clothing panted to a stop at the jagged portal. She was drenched in sweat and sported a number of scratches and muddy splotches all over her face. Breathlessly, she asked, "Where…are…they?"

"…Where are who?" Himekaidou answered dumbly.

"That…stupid…crow" Pant, pant, pant, pant "and that…mangy…wolf!" Pant, pant. "Snapped a pic of me when I…wasn't…looking!"

"Did they get your good side?"

"Good…side?" Pant, pant. "Perverts caught me undressin'…'cause I was so…damn…warm…from all that flyin'!"

"Were you playing some sort of game? Were you losing?"

The girl glared. "Don't be…stupid! I told 'em…to get off my property…and that stupid crow…_Aya_…didn't listen! So I…gave her a run…for her money!" Pant, pant, pant.

"Oh, so it was _that_ kind of game. You don't look like the type of person who would take the bait—"

"Cut the crap! If you…see them…tell 'em…they're _bent_…when we meet again! Alright?"

"Alright."

"Alright! Have a good day!" She tipped her bulbous hat to the girl and trotted away.

When the sound of the girl's flight was far and gone, Hatate dropped her façade like a falling anvil. She turned on the duo, which were extracting themselves from their desks, and pointed at the broken window. "What the hell was that all about? Who did you piss off this time?"

"Hey now, hey now, we didn't do any pissing off, see," Aya said as she dusted off her skirt. "Momiji and I, we were just being ourselves; you know, searching for that One Big Scoop that'll shake the heavens and their heavens' heavens. We had nothing to do with stirring Miss Kirisame's ire, right, Momiji?"

"Up until the point you photographed her state of undress," Momiji snapped. "We were well on our way home when you had the bright idea of sneaking off to catch a flash of bloomers—"

"It was for blackmail!" Aya protested. "I was gonna blackmail her so she'd leave us alone! And then I was gonna burn the picture!"

"Liar! You were going to put that in your Special Box! The one that's stashed in that compartment _under YOUR desk_!"

"Only Special People get to know where the Special Hiding Place is! You're not special enough to comprehend the specialness of my inner specialty!"

"Con_found_ it, Aya! Why do you always do this? Why am I always arguing with you?"

"Why do _you_ always complain?"

"Because the two of you have nothing better to do than to argue _and_ complain! Just shut up already!" Hatate interjected harshly, stepping in between them.

"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS, ROOKIE!" Aya and Momiji exclaimed simultaneously in the tengu's face.

Hatate appeared to be fuming like a volcano about to explode. Instead, she laughed and smiled good-naturedly. "Okay then, I'll leave you both alone so you can have your little talk in private. Don't mind me; I'll just go about my own business." She took a few steps back, hands raised in a placative gesture, and Aya and Momiji looked away to resume their bickering. At that moment she chose to bolt for the broken window, lean out, and call: "Miss Kirisame! Miss Kirisame! They're over here—!"

"_NOOOO!_" Aya screamed. She lunged forward and tackled her colleague to the ground.

Hatate tried to the push the girl off. "A-Aya!"

"Shut up!" the elder hissed. "Just _shut up_—OOF!" Suddenly the air was knocked from her lungs, and there was the presence of something heavy and furry weighing on top of her. "N-Now why did you have to go and do that?" She posed to Momiji.

"Because you're an idiot and I felt like it!"

"OFF! Get off!" Hatate snapped, and before the pair could comply she pushed off the floor and brushed them aside with a twitch of her magical black wings. She got to her feet and faced them, hands on her hips and wings rustling irritably. "Look, I don't care to know what went down between you two and Miss Kirisame. What I want to know is if you heard anything that's worth putting in our paper."

"I should be asking _you_ that," Aya pointed out. "After all, _I_ founded Bunbunmaru."

"Did you or didn't you?" Hatate pressed, her tone brooking no nonsense.

"Yes, there was one thing," Momiji offered to the pig-tailed tengu. "Aya and I happened to be in the area when we caught wind of it."

"Did you, now?"

"Indeed, we did!" Aya proclaimed. "It's quite the splendiferous find, I tell you!"

"Then stop prattling and get to the point! Tell me everything. Don't leave out a single detail."

"If you so insist!" So did Aya and Momiji tell Hatate of all that had occurred – the explosion, the ruined Kirisame house, the confrontation between Miss Kirisame and the reticent Miss Sakuya, and the latter's mission objectives regarding a ship that could fly to the Moon.

Hatate hummed thoughtfully. "What an odd request. But…I don't see the reason why Lady Remilia would want to go on such a trip. As far as I know, the Moon is as barren and lifeless as the humans on the Other Side describe it."

"That's what I'd like to know myself!" Aya Shameimaru declared, waving her arms in a chopping motion to emphasize her point. "What's so freaking great about a dead world?"

"You're the Traditional Gensou Reporter. You should be asking that question to people who _might_ have an idea as to what you're talking about."

"Hatate, my friend, you have never been so right. I was thinking _just the same thing_! Isn't that amazing?"

"With that stupefied look on your face, I wouldn't have believed it myself," Momiji quipped.

"O-Oi!"

"That's enough, both of you!" said Hatate. "There's a lead that needs to be followed up on. Ask around and find out what you can about Lady Remilia's trip to the Moon. If that doesn't garner any results, ask the Lady herself. Who knows, this might be the Big Scoop you've been looking for."

"Indeed…this will be bigger than the Perfect Cherry Blossom incident! Better than the gathering of the Immaterial Mist! Ah, but I bet you – I _bet you_ – it can't beat that one year we celebrated Tanabata. You remember it, don't you, Hatate? The girls and I were playing light as a feather, stiff as a board and" Aya laughed "and, by Gods, you were so _wasted_. We had to pick you off the ground, carry you over to the edge of the cliff, and—"

"I already know the rest!" Hatate snapped, blushing furiously. "Just go! Get out!"

"Oh, but Hatate, it was only a couple feet—"

"_Now_, Aya! And you, Momiji! You make sure Aya doesn't do anything stupid, you hear me? Don't even take your eyes off her! Not for a second! Now get going! Before I take the Scoop into my own hands!"

"Pish-posh! By the time you get around to writing it, every snail and turtle on this side of the mountain will be eagerly awaiting what the Great Aya Shameimaru will have to offer next!"

"Go to Hell!" Hatate shouted at her colleague's retreating back.

"Them, too!" said Aya.

"I HATE YOU!"

"That makes two of us," Momiji said coolly. "Glad to hear I'm not alone."

"I don't give a hoot what you think of me!" Aya said. She approached the double doors with a spring in her step and pushed outwards, revealing a tide of brilliant amber daylight. "There's a story out there that's waiting to be published, and I won't stand to let it go unnoticed!"

"Then let's get moving already," said Momiji. "That chatterbox mouth of yours isn't going to bring the people to us, you know."

"We'll get there when we get there. The story's not gonna go anywhere."

"Hey, I'm just saying."

"People say a lot of things, Momiji. I don't think there's anything more ambiguous than saying what you're supposed to say and what you're meant to say. But that's life for ya. Now, let's be off then, shall we?"


	4. IV: Spot the Difference

**Disclaimer:** All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

_Revised 12/26/2010_

* * *

**IV.  
**_Spot the Difference_

As soon as the front of Bunbunmaru Newspaper disappeared beneath the horizon, Aya made it clear to Momiji they were not to let anyone outside their triangle (the third person being Hatate) learn about the Big Scoop they were pursuing.

"And why not?" was Momiji's skeptical response.

"Even a youkai with parasites would know the reason why!" Aya told the tengu sharply. "Come on, Momiji, do you think I'm gonna let everyone in on _our_ Big Scoop? Think of the possibilities we could mine from this expedition! Imagine the looks on their faces when they open the paper and see the headlines staring straight back at 'em! _'JAW-DROPPING DISCOVERY MADE ON THE MOON!' 'FAMED REPORTER UNCOVERS LUNAR SECRETS!'_ And – I only thought this up and it's my _absolute_ favorite – _'THE MOON IS NOT WHAT WE THINK IT IS! THE TRUTH…IS REVEALED!'_"

Momiji sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's all fine and dandy, Aya…but this is an issue no one's ever touched on. All they know is that when the full moon's out, they throw a lot of parties and gorge on _sake_ and mooncakes. For all we know, this whole thing may be one big bust."

"Are you saying Sakuya's lying?" Aya stopped and turned askance the wolf.

Momiji shook her head. "I don't doubt Sakuya. I do, however, question what Lady Remilia intends to do once the ship is built and she lands on the Moon. Something about it…doesn't seem to add up."

"Yeah? How so?" Aya waited for Momiji to catch up.

"I'm not sure. I have this feeling there's more to it than what we are already aware of. Like there's something…_missing_. It's like those illusions we put on the back of the weekend paper. You put it to your nose and slowly move it away so you see what you couldn't see before. Except…when _I_ look at it, I don't see anything beneath that. I mean, I see bits and pieces, but it doesn't _show me_ what that illusion really is."

Aya nodded. "That's what makes journalism so difficult. Sometimes the facts are laid out right in front of you. Other times they're scattered all over the place and eat up precious time when you're searching for 'em, especially when you're hard-pressed to get the story graphed and published by the deadline. The irony of it all is that half the time spent trying to put everything together the facts are right under your nose. Just like an illusion, the truth is always there where it should be: hidden, but in plain sight."

"And if it's not in plain sight?"

"You keep on looking, Momiji, even if you have to squint so hard your eyeballs pop out and dangle from their sockets. Believe you me, when you've been around for a thousand years you have to expect these sorts of things." Aya raced ahead of the white wolf girl and hopped on a rock jutting from the steepening path. She pointed a finger at the healthy green heartlands where the rest of Gensokyo society lay. "If the truth evades you, start running and don't stop until it's within your grasp! Take the truth by the neck and twist it inside out until it doesn't have the strength to move! If the answer refuses to be shown, then say to hell with reason and peel it all back for the world to see!

"That, Momiji," said Aya "is what I call looking beneath the underneath. Because what you know and what you don't know can often be dangerous and misleading. Journalists like us have to be on the lookout for stuff that tickles our blind spot – you know the one spot that leaves a gap between the base of your skull and where the spine starts. Simply put, if you can look at something without actually doing so, you're more than likely to uncover the secrets before the truth is revealed." She offered her companion a sheepish smile. "It's how I used to crack open a few cases, back when I was learning the art of the craft."

"Did those cases happen to include certain _late-night researches_?"

"By Benzaiten! Why must you associate late-night research that way? Late-night research is research conducted late at night! Can't you _try_ and see things my way for once?"

Momiji turned up her nose at the crow. "Gensokyo can only handle so many perverts. You alone are enough and you _STILL_ manage to drive me crazy."

"Oh my, me!" Aya exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. "And here I thought you were going to compliment on my oh-so wonderful nuggets of wisdom!"

"Fat chance. You're a good writer, but you're not _that_ great. We are entitled to exploit our strengths and our weaknesses, regardless of whether you're a human or youkai or an offshoot. No one is perfect but the Creator Himself."

"What are ya talking about, Himself? Gensokyo has more females than males compared to the Other Side of the Border, and that's on a ten to one ratio!"

Momiji groaned. "Gods, not this again. Look, we can argue about this later (even though it's going to end with us going around in circles)! We've got questions to ask and answers to find. Let's start at the base of the mountain and work our way into the heartlands. The kappa should give us an idea or two on the kind of ship Lady Remilia is constructing."

"The kappa? Momiji, if we mention building of any kind we're never gonna get a word in! They'll be on us like flies on horseshit!"

"Then we'll ask Nitori."

"That's even worse!"

Momiji scoffed. "Don't be stupid. If there's anyone who understands modern science and technology from the Other Side, it's Nitori. I can't think of anyone else who would know better than her."

"That settles it! We'll go and seek Nitori! Just remember what I said about the kappa—!"

"You don't have to tell me twice, Aya. Yeesh, it's like you're expecting a disaster to happen…."

* * *

Shortly thereafter, they arrived at the mountain's lower steppes. Here the grass was wild and unkempt (even more so than the higher levels!), and the ground moist and tender from the constant coming and going of busy kappa. Ponds bathed in the embrace of sunlight filtering through weeping willows, sacred lotus and lily pads lazily floating on the surface. Waterfalls dominated the distant landscape, splashing against moss-strewn tiers and plunging into a round wide basin. The air thrummed with passing dragonflies, croaking frogs, and the incoherent murmur of numerous conversations.

Aya inhaled a deep breath and let it out. Yep, it still smelled like cucumbers, alright. There were plots of the green vegetable scattered all over the place, their bodies peeking out from leafy canopies and their vines crawling and twisting round trellises attached to the walls of the planters' homes. From where she was standing, she could see the kappa at work – hacking at roots and weeds with their hoes, hilling the growing plants with piles of dirt, furrowing drills in the earth, and sowing seeds with a careful toss of their hands.

With this much dedication, their harvests had to be plentiful. Aya didn't have to be a connoisseur of agriculture to know that (but just for a second she wondered how the kappa, and Nitori, would fare if their crops suffered in the wake of a drought; then again, these were kappa, they probably had something to combat the shriveling and withering).

She started down the slope, being mindful of the way she ventured on the soft ground. Momiji was at the bottom of the steppe, waving at two particular individuals hunched over a chessboard. One was an oni who had a death grip on her gourd of _sake _in spite of her swaying, drunken state. The other was a kappa whose dress bulged here and there with wrenches, screwdrivers, and other miscellany.

The kappa was mulling her next move when Momiji called her name. Nitori Kawashiro looked up and brightened when she saw the pair of tengu. "Momiji! Aya! Hullo!"

"Hullo, Nitori," said Aya. "Hey, Suika."

The oni, Suika, turned partway in her seat, and the action almost caused her to topple over. Her flushed face beamed at the crow girl. "Oh hi theeerrreee~ you come to visit ole Suika, too?"

"Just for a little bit. How's the _sake_ coming along?"

"**BETTER THAN EVER!"** Suika screeched, which startled a flock of osprey stalking at the basin to take flight. Aya, Momiji, Nitori winced, as did a few working kappa farther down the slope. The oni thrust her gourd at Aya. "Come oooonnnn! Have yerself a draw! I ain't got no germs!"

Aya gave her a forced smile. "Ah, thanks but no thanks. I'm not thirsty right now—"

"Whassa MATTER wid you! Are you woman or are you pussy?" She jerked the gourd harder, splashing wine all over her hand. "Drink up, dammit! I haben't see'd a drunk crow in years!"

"Miss Suika, please settle down!" said Nitori. "She doesn't have to drink if she doesn't feel like. Same goes to Momiji."

"Yore beer's water compar'd to mah **ALMIGHTY WINE**!" Aya, Momiji, and Nitori winced again, and this time a window shattered from one of the houses along the steppe followed by an angry yell. "I can make yer piddly cucumber mo' stronger than all the machines yer kind's evah made! Let me show ya—"

"No no! No no! That's fine!" Nitori stuttered quickly, pulling her can of cucumber beer away from the oni's reach. "You don't have to show me. I can't keep your wine down, anyway. As the saying goes, to each his own!"

"Che! You're no FUN!" She indicated Aya and Momiji with a swing of her gourd. "None o' you are FUN! I'm…I'm-a gon' take a walk. Alone. Wid mah beer. Doan follow us!" She struggled to her feet and started for the basin. The trio watched her take a hearty swig, tilt her head back and emit a loud, disgusting belch. "Yeeaahhh-hehhh! That's the stuff!" she cackled.

Nitori turned to Aya and Momiji and laughed. "Sorry about that. You know how Miss Suika is when she drinks."

"Tell me about it," said Momiji, rolling her eyes. "Though I wish she didn't have to make her point across by yelling, by Gods!"

"Same here," said Aya.

Nitori nodded. "I know how you feel. Oh, but I guess the game's over, then." She gestured at the chessboard. "And I almost had her, too! I better put everything away."

"Here, let me help," said Aya.

"Thank you, Aya. Momiji, take a seat if you will."

"Nah, I'm okay like this. Thanks, though."

Nitori produced a three-hinged box from her feet and opened the latch. She and Aya took the pieces and placed them among the indents in the velvet lining. As they were doing so, she asked, "So what brings you two out here? Since those offices opened up, you've been especially busy at the desk."

"Heh, don't they ever," Aya chuckled. "The newspaper business has been booming these past few centuries, so Lord Tenma decided to clear the wild lands on the higher levels and move forward with the construction process. That was when the Hakurei Border had been established and youkai were streaming through from the other side. I remember working in the shacks with the printing blocks, _way_ before we got our hands on the modern tech. Those were the days, eh Momiji?"

"I can't say those were the best days of my life, but they did give me some form of meaning after the white wolf clan integrated with your people," said Momiji, and there was a hint of a smile on her lips. "After all, you were the one who taught me how to read and write. And even after all this time I still can't seem to get away from you."

"I hope that doesn't mean you love me," said Aya.

Momiji made a face. "Not one drop, if that's what you're insinuating."

Nitori laughed. "Awww, that's so cute! You two are like an old married couple!"

Momiji blushed and turned her head to the side. "D-Don't be silly! We're nothing like that!"

Aya nodded. "She's right. There's Hatate to consider, too. Between the three of us it's Hatate who fights the hardest to wear the pants."

"A-AYA!"

"Oh, but I'm sure you don't want to hear about _that_. You want to know why we're here, right? Well, Momiji and I are trying to find a lead on a" the crow tengu carefully chose her next words "_a rumor_ we heard in passing yesterday. We weren't sure where to start, considering the context, so we figured you might be able to make us understand it better."

Nitori arched a blue eyebrow. "Oh? What's the rumor about?"

"Well, to start," Momiji began, "have the kappa ever made ships of any kind? Like sailboats or maybe even an aeroplane the humans on the Other Side use?"

Nitori hummed. "We've built a great many sailboats since our ancestors migrated to this side of the Border. Gensokyo has no known ocean we're aware of, so there's no need to build one that would last for a period of time. However, we have tried to emulate the human aeroplanes on more than one occasion. You've heard of Rinnosuke Morichika from Kourindou, yes? He has books on certain people who drew up the plans and recorded their attempts."

"I recall the kappa trade with him when he makes his rounds every now and then," said Aya as she scratched the details into her Bunkachou. "What materials would you need to make a ship, or – in your case – an aeroplane?"

"That depends on which type of aeroplane, but we the kappa are trying to replicate the designs from a human era called the Industrial Revolution. They used what's called a steam engine to make their planes fly. There are other things a plane needs to fly, like propulsion from the wings which gives it balance; the chassis or machinery that supports the plane and allows it to land; empennage that supports the back of the plane; and a fuselage that connects the plane to all the other parts. All of the components are mostly like to have been wrought from steel."

"How long would you say it takes to build one aeroplane?"

"With our current technology I'd estimate roughly around three weeks, half that if we don't pull any stops during the process."

"And how successful are these attempts?"

"It varies from plane to plane. Sometimes we get it off the ground and it stays up in the air for a few seconds. Other times we launch and it can't sustain the extra weight and crashes. I've operated a few of 'em, and each time the result is different. Just because a plane looks like it's ready to fly doesn't always mean it will."

"So you're saying an aeroplane relies not only on its components, but on the pilot as well," said Momiji.

Nitori nodded. "That's how it works. The components operate the aeroplane, but it's the pilot that makes it go. Without them, the aeroplane is useless."

"Do you happen to have them in possession still?" asked Aya.

"Unfortunately, we dismantle them as soon as we test them. We do this as a sort of inspection to see which parts are worth saving and which are going to be recycled or dumped in one of the smelting pools located at the base of the mountain. When we finish we begin building new aeroplanes with the salvaged parts and any parts we obtain through Mister Morichika's services. It's not a fast process, but it gets the job done."

"What about sketches?" Momiji inquired. "Have you drawn any plans based on the designs found in those books?"

"As a matter of fact, we did. Here, have a look through these. I'm not much of an artist, but they should give you a general idea of how the aeroplanes are constructed." Nitori reached in the folds of her dress and produced a sheaf of yellowed paper. Aya took them and, as Momiji moved to join her, studied the pictures. Indeed they were sketches, drawn with a quick and rough hand; yet despite the general hurriedness the context was clear. Each aeroplane was shown in a variety of angles, be it from profile, bird's-eye or worm's eye view, and often there would be a brief drawing of a particular piece of machinery. These designs differed in age and shape and had a note set either in the margin or next to a specific spot indicated by a scratch or line. One was labeled a _helicopter_, another was an _ornithopter_. A sheet was dedicated front and back on a_ zeppelin_, and there was one more – drawn vertically – of a bulb-shaped craft named a _hot-air balloon_. Aya and Momiji couldn't quite understand the technical jargon tacked here and there, but there was one thought they had in common: building an aeroplane was a lot of work and very time-consuming.

Aya looked up from the papers and said, "These are very interesting, Nitori. I won't lie to you when I say I'd be struck speechless if I were to ever see these things take off."

Nitori flushed at the comment. "Oh, it's quite a sight to behold! If we could dig deeper into Mister Morichika's volumes, why, I bet one day these aeroplanes will be flying as easily as you do, Aya!" The kappa paused. "But…you still haven't told me what your rumor has to do with our aeroplanes."

"It _is_ related, in a way," Momiji began slowly, fully aware that Aya was watching her. "Aya and I were told that someone was building a ship not unlike the designs the kappa were trying to replicate."

"Someone else besides us? What kind of ship?"

"The kind that goes straight to the Moon," Aya stated bluntly.

"**THE WHAT NOW?**" Nitori shrieked, and this prompted a fellow kappa to shoot straight out of dreamland, fumble with the hoe he leaned on, and fall to the bottom of a hole he and his companions were digging to make an irrigation duct.

Momiji clamped a hand over Nitori's mouth, and any more words the kappa had to say were abruptly cut short. "Yes, the Moon!" the wolf girl hissed. "Must you let the whole world know?"

When she let go, Nitori flew into a babbling litany. "Ohmigodohmigodohmigod! The Moon! The one and only Moon? In our sky? Jesus, Joseph, God and Mary! How is it possible? _How_ is that _possible_?"

"We don't _know,_" Aya told the ecstatic pilot. "We came to you because we thought you might."

"But I _don't_ know the first thing about the Moon! I don't even know you would even get there!"

"Maybe there's a book you haven't looked over yet," Momiji offered. "Maybe one that's more modern and up-to-date."

Nitori slammed her hands on the empty chessboard. "Ye Gods, you're right! I remember now! Ah, wait here! I'll be right back!" She hopped off her seat and scrambled toward the basin Suika Ibuki had traveled to earlier.

Aya sighed and slapped her forehead as soon as the kappa was gone. "You see what I mean, Momiji? Gods know what would happen if you hadn't stopped her."

"Don't get your panties in a knot," the wolf tengu snipped. "You'd be surprised too if you found out someone other than the kappa had the means to build a ship to the Moon."

"This is the kappa we're dealing with. They're the most advanced race on this side of the Border. Look, Nitori's a nice gel and all, but if she squeals—"

"She won't. Have a little faith in people."

"I tend to be fairly open-minded, but this story's _different_. It's not like any of the others we've done."

"We won't know that until we glean more information and get our facts together. This whole ship business can still be a bust."

"Yes, you're right…but I can't shake the feeling we're onto something big. Something unexpected. I want to find out what that something is. I'll go to the ends of Gensokyo if I have to."

"I know you would, Aya. Everyone from here to the Human Village knows. But you're getting too ahead of yourself. Let's focus on this task first, and then we'll decide where we can go from there. One step at a time, Aya."

"Here it is!" Nitori called to the pair. She was carrying a fat paperback nestled in her arms. "Have a look at this!" She stopped before them and set the book down so they could see. On the front cover was an odd-looking creature with wrinkled white skin and black eye holding onto a long enormous tube. Below it was a round blue orb brushed with more white, and next to the creature was a smaller grey sphere. The title read _"The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disasters"_ and the subtitle beneath declared _"Over 50 true accounts of triumph and tragedy in space; taking you right inside the capsule and beyond."_

"It came out a couple years ago on the Other Side," said Nitori. "It goes into detail about the history of NASA and what they've done to explore outside our planet. I find it to be a very interesting read."

"What's a NASA?" Momiji asked.

"It's an organization that oversees any scheduled flights and missions they undertake for research on other planets which may or may not support life like our own. I could go on all day summarizing the book, but I'm sure you would like to read it for yourself instead of listening to me babble!" Nitori ended with a laugh. "Go ahead and keep it for the time being. You might find some use in it. I know I did."

After spending another moment staring at the cover, Aya grabbed the book, put away the Bunkachou and stood up. She offered her hand to the kappa. "Thanks for your help, Nitori. We'll be sure to credit you once the story's compiled and ready for publication."

Nitori smiled and shook it. "Hey any time, Aya. You're more than welcome to stop by whenever you like; same too you, Momiji, you're part of the working force as well. Just make sure you return the book when all's fine and dandy. The kappa have yet to begin our next foray in humanity's footsteps!"

"With the way you're going I'm sure you'll get there," said Momiji, also shaking hands with Nitori.

"Oh, I look forward to the day when we get to that point! I'll let you go, then. Good luck on your story and safe travels to you both!"

* * *

As Nitori was watching the pair grow smaller the farther they went down the mountain, she felt something land on her shoulder. She wasn't surprised when she turned to see Suika Ibuki standing beside her. "Hey, I thought you wanted to be alone with your _sake_," Nitori told the girl.

"I just rememb'red somethin'," said the oni.

"What's that?"

"I was there when the Moon crashed."

Nitori blinked. "C-Come again?"

"It was forty years ago on the sixteenth night of April when I saw it," Suika continued, her slur becoming less pronounced and her voice growing hushed. "I was mindin' my own business, havin' a nice li'l stroll through the fields with my wine in hand. There were a lot o' deer out, some wild youkai too, but by Gods there were a helluva lot o' deer. So I'm walking and walking and walking, and all of a sudden I hears this low whistlin' sound. I thought it was the wind at first and didn't pay it any mind, but the sound kept getting louder and louder by the second. And just when I was 'bout to get back to my walkin' there's this great big BOOM! and it was so loud and so gods-damned close I was pitched off my feet and sent sprawling to the dirt. I didn't know what to think, didn't know who or what hit me from behind – _from BEHIND_, 'cause only cowards hit people from behind. The only thing goin' through my mind was that I was going to be in deep shit if I didn't haul my ass up an' live to see another night. Ah, but this was no ord'nary night, Nitori; this was a night I couldn't ever forget."

"I don't understand…."

"Pah, neither did I…at least until I got a good look at what caused that great big boom. Steel on all four sides and twice as high as you an' me! But the front…the front was covered in glass, see, and there was, like, _steam_ pourin' out of it."

"What was it? What was that thing?"

Suika shook her head. "I dunno; even if I did know, I wouldn't have been able to put a name on it. But…I did _see_ something, or rather…I _saw someone_…come tumblin' out of that metal thing." She turned and stared Nitori in the eyes; and though they were unfocused and glossed heavily with inebriation, Nitori could detect the severity in that gaze. "Those girls…they have no idea what they're gettin' into. I think" she swayed side to side, regained her footing "I think they should stop an' find another story to write about."

"What do you mean?" asked Nitori. "What do Aya and Momiji's story have to do with that…_thing_ you saw that night?" Then, as an afterthought, "Why didn't you tell them this? If what you saw originated from the Moon—"

"I dunno the whole story," Suika interjected, her slur returning with full force. "I doan have all th' answers. If'n yore willin', I will tell ya what I already know…but you mustn't tell those two girls, you hear! The secrets are between you an' me. No one else! Do you unnerstand, Nitori?"

"Honestly, I don't…but a secret's a secret, and what passes between us does not escape us. You can hold me to that, Suika. I just think that I shouldn't be withholding information from Aya and Momiji."

Suika swung an arm around Nitori's shoulders and steered them in the direction of the basin. "You'll thank me when this blows over, kid. There's nothin' wrong with keepin' secrets, so believe me when I say yore doin' the right thing! All you have to do is lend me your ear…."


	5. V: Luctor et Emergo

**Disclaimer:** All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

**

* * *

V.  
**_Luctor et Emergo  
(I Struggle and Emerge)_

Sakuya was tending the gardens when she saw the full moon.

Even out here she could still hear the multitude of noises emanating from the Mansion – a cacophony of fairy maids fluttering to and fro, talking and gossiping as they worked in the kitchens. After all, today was very important: this was the day when the rabbits made their pilgrimage across Gensokyo where they congregated in a vast bamboo forest and celebrated the viewing of the full moon until sunrise. Sakuya, however, had never left the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the thirty years she lived there aside from making trips to the Human Village to gather supplies and journeying to Hakugyokurou during the Perfect Cherry Blossom incident; she had guessed the bamboo forest was very far and removed from civilization. And she had guessed right, for twice every year the rabbits would come this way during the early afternoon, trudging across the road and singing in their native tongue at the top of their lungs while they hopped and skipped and drew hearty swigs from tankards overflowing with beer. She had seen this on several occasions, but most of that time was spent maintaining control in the kitchens, making sure Meiling didn't abandon her post at the gates and getting drunk with the rabbits, and keeping Lady Remilia as far away as possible from the _dango._

But not this year. No, this year the Lady said she would not require the maid's assistance in any of their activities. Instead she would go to the gardens and trim the hedges and bushes, for some rabbits had the habit of trying to sneak past the gates and hide amidst the greenery. The same went for Flandre, the Lady's younger sister, whenever she escaped the confines of the basement. Taming the wild branches and leaves would reduce the girl's chances – and those of the rabbits' – of capture and a well-deserved march to the door that would close behind their backs.

It surprised Sakuya that the Lady would deviate from the duties originally imposed on a day like this, but perhaps a change of scenery was needed. The maid wasn't often given the chance to be outside, especially on her breaks and days off, but after an hour clipping away with the pair of shears (and the use of her knives and the Luna Dial, but this task required careful precision, lest she incur the mistress's wrath at the lack of intuit) the feeling was gone and but a whispering ripple in her conscience. There was much more work to be done and little rest, whether or not she held the title as Head Maid.

She was so engrossed in the act of snipping that she almost didn't see the chrysanthemum in front of her, and when she did see it did she look around and realize she had already went through half the garden. That wasn't so bad. If she could pick up the pace just a tad bit, there might still be some chores left to do.

And so Sakuya resumed her progress, but her gaze once again fell upon the flower. Staring into it she noticed how white its petals were, how pretty the yellow florets complimented the snowy absence, how eager it was as it looked up at the girl from its peduncle and _begged_ to be cut and set in a vase where it would sit among the other beautiful flowers in the Mansion. Wouldn't that be nice to savor water's liquid embrace as it basked in the sunlight by the window?

Yes, that would be very nice, thank you very much.

Sakuya smiled. She always did have a thing for flowers, especially when it was late at night and they blossomed into the world beneath the tender gaze of the stars. She wasn't exactly sure why it was so, only that gazing upon the gardens resplendent in the moon's diamond cloak brought warmth to her heart; yet there was also sadness and a vague sense of longing, to separate herself from her physical body and become one with the stars and the black-blue sky. Restlessness would worm in her belly and curiosity rattle the caged wall surrounding her heart, but her mind would not be swayed by such idle musings. There was nothing to be had in the stars or on the moon. Her place was here on solid earth, here where she could breathe and move and live the life she had and always would have. The moon was a hunk of rock, the stars its bejeweled crown and the sky an ever-flowing robe.

So as she reached to cut the flower from its stem, Sakuya's eyes drifted up and locked with that of the moon – small, white, and faint at the top of a wide, blue world. All alone and with nary a star in sight.

Her breath hitched. Her heartbeat slowed.

_(- running with the stars glaring at her back, labored breaths attacking her chest -)_

_(- a glint of silver flashing, ripping through meat and drawing blood -)_

_(- sweating, panting, drowning, as she lay and stared through blurred vision at the large, full moon, oblivious to the howls of the things with teeth and claws and foaming maws -)_

A steel kiss and red hot pain shocked her awake. Sakuya looked down and saw that her fingers were covered in blood; she had cut too close to them with the shears. Sighing, she set the shears next to her on the grass and pulled a kerchief from her apron. She wrapped it round her fingers and applied pressure. Really now, she should be paying more attention. Staring off into space wasn't going to make the gardens trim themselves; more or less get any work done for when the rabbits arrived. Lady Remilia would surely be displeased if she were to see her servant falling behind.

When she was certain the bleeding had stopped, Sakuya replaced the kerchief and picked up the shears.

She did not notice the blood dripping from the chrysanthemum's white petals….

* * *

"This is _incredible_," said Aya as she flipped the page. "I know there are some smart humans out there, but I never imagined them to be _this_ advanced."

"Neither have I," said Momiji, who stayed Aya's hand so she could catch up with the reading. "Who would have thought the humans had it in them?"

The sun was at its highest point. During those hours between leaving the kappa settlement and entering Gensokyo's heartlands, the tengu spent the morning reading the paperback by the human Richard Russell Lawrence. The print was small and the chapters short, but they absorbed the knowledge word for word like overeager sponges – from the aeroplane's first successful recorded flight by the Wright Brothers and the Space Race between the Soviet Union and North America to NASA's numerous programs among the stars.

However, what attracted their attention the most was when man landed on the Moon. From their craft the _Eagle_, the two _astronauts_ (as the humans in the wrinkled white suits were called) – Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin – took their first steps in zero-gravity and planted the American flag in the grey hardpan. They had even collected _forty-seven pounds of moonrock_ and delivered them back to Earth for scientific study; and when they did return, they were rewarded with medals presented by the President of the United States and hailed as heroes by the American public.

Aya nodded, but her smile had faded. "But there's no mention of anything else besides the moonrocks. The astronauts didn't so much as even explore the rest of the surface."

"They didn't know what was on the Moon, Aya," said Momiji. "The suits may have protected them, but NASA didn't know if they contracted any germs that might not be curable by modern medicine. They had a right to be cautious when they put the crew in quarantine. Plus, it was their first flight; it's not like they had to go far to see how well they could walk on the surface."

"If it'd been me, I would've stayed for more than two and a half hours. Hell, I'd go the whole day."

"And why does that not surprise me?"

"Because you know me far too well than any human or youkai will ever get the chance to," said Aya, and she poked a finger at Momiji's nose.

The wolf tengu snapped at the crow girl's retreating hand. "Okay, but what would you do? There's nothing here that says there's life, not even a building to show there are signs of civilization. What could you _possibly_ find on a world that has no atmosphere, no gravity, and no oxygen?"

"I would write that there are other worlds besides our own."

"That's not good enough. When the people learn something new, they want details. They want something that's worth telling their friends, something that'll compel them to think and discuss the matter while they're taking their fifteen minute lunch break and nibbling on their rice cakes. They want to know why this happened or what led up to that or who caused it and when it happened. You can't sugar-coat the details when it comes to the public."

"No one in Gensokyo's ever been to the Moon. They wouldn't any wiser if we were to tell them that the land was made of cheese and there are rabbits that do pound _mochi_ day in and day out."

"People aren't stupid, Aya. You might get a few who are too gullible and naïve to know any better, but you'll have those who are going to wonder if you're really telling the truth or pulling crap from your ass. They might even think you're trying to whitewash the bigger picture."

"Then if they're that desperate, there's no point in lying." Aya closed the book, heaved a defeated sigh, and looked at Momiji. "People deserve to know the truth. There's no denying that."

Momiji shrugged. "I guess so. Unless you're a criminal or someone who doesn't want to hear a lick of truth, that is."

"That's exactly the type of person we should ask. They may know something they _don't_ want to in the first place."

"Aya, it's not as easy as you think it is," Momiji remarked, standing and taking her place next to the journalist. "Those types of people…you have to be careful when dealing with them. They aren't willing to part with the knowledge they hold. Not unless _you_ give them a very good reason to, and even that doesn't always work. You either have to play the game their way, find a way around the they have to keep you out…or you break them. And even if you do break them, they're going to _lie_; they'll misconstrue the truth and twist it around in so many knots you won't be able to tell what's fact and what's fiction. It'll not only be hard to separate, it'll make you look like a fool if you dally too long. They'll laugh at you behind your back the second you realize you've been strung along."

"If there's a will, there's a way," said Aya, looking at the horizon. "The truth can't stay hidden forever. Not when you and I are there to bring it out in the open."

"Well that's because you're persistent. I know where my limits lay and I know when to back off. Writing, Aya, is a thought process. Journalism is a matter of respecting a person's views and presenting them in a way that is neither offensive nor exaggerated."

"Then I think we should go ask someone who is both fair and firm," said Aya, who suddenly grinned. "Come, Momiji! I know just the person who might tell us more about the Moon!"

"What, you're gonna go cross the Border and ask Mister Lawrence himself?"

"As much as I'd like to, I have no idea where to find him. No, Momiji, we're not gonna cross the Border; we're gonna strike _for_ the Border and speak to the one person who maintains the boundary between Gensokyo and the Other Side."

"Do you mean Miss Yakumo?"

Aya snorted. "Are you kidding me? I was talking about Miss Reimu. If there's anyone who's had a glimpse of the outside world, it's going to be her. I bet she'll know!"

* * *

Needless to say, Aya was in for a surprise when the pair arrived at the Hakurei Shrine an hour later. Shouting was emanating from within the lopsided walls, things being knocked over and falling to the floor, the glassy clink of bottles tapped against one another, and an odd droning sound fluctuating in volume like waves teasing a coastal shoreline. To Aya's misfortune, that could only mean one thing:

"Miss Yakumo is here," announced Momiji. "Are you going to talk to her?"

Aya's face soured at the mention of the boundary youkai. "I don't have a choice; she'll be just as curious as Nitori was once we explain ourselves. Or she might brush us off and say the Bunbunmaru is shoddy and nothing more than a pack of lies…_again_."

"It wouldn't hurt to ask."

"I know, _I know_. Every bit of information helps. It's just…_ugh_, she was hitting that poor fox as a way of showing her discipline." Her lips quirked down, a cold shadow flickering across her eyes. "Discipline is about adopting a pattern of behavior and following it as instructed. What Yukari did to Ran was not only wrong, it was unacceptable."

"Aya, that was two years ago. Miss Ran's more than likely to have learned her lesson by now." They walked under the giant _torii_ and up the steps, scattering a flock of blackbirds from their path.

"It doesn't matter. If you want a person to understand you show her with a presence of mind, not by getting the crap kicked out of you." She reached over, unclipped the Bunkachou from her belt, and extracted the pen behind her ear. "Violence doesn't give you answers. It doesn't even make sense. It makes things quite a mess, don't you think?"

"That depends on the situation. Look, let's not make this more complicated than it is. The past is the past and there's nothing you can do to change it. We'll ask if they can have a moment of their time and go straight from there. Simple as that."

"Nothing is simple when you're Yukari Yakumo. That's why there are so many gaps in her line of thinking."

"Now you're just being mean."

"I could care less what you think of me, Momiji. You think I'm mean? Fine, but at least I can differentiate between what you should and shouldn't do. I'm not afraid to come out and admit that. Unlike Granny I go right through the bushes; there's no point in stepping round 'em. That's not how Aya Shameimaru works."

"And that's not how the world works, either. It's not always going to be in your favor. I already told you what I thought concerning the Moon."

"And _I_ already told _you_ how convinced I am of the whole affair. Until I have definite proof, I won't allow myself to be swayed by someone else's actions." She raised a fist and knocked thrice on the door.

Momiji huffed, ears at the sides of her head and tail twitching involuntarily. "You're as stubborn as ever, you know that? You'd even deny a murder in heat unless you had them tested and cleared of infectious maladies."

"I'm only doing my job. It's not what some people would expect from a journalist, but hey just as well." She knocked on the door again. "Excuse me? Miss Reimu? It's Aya and Momiji. If you don't mind we'd like to have a word with you."Up close the noise was louder and much more pronounced, but even amidst that din a young female voice broke through the barrier in spite of the rushed quality within it. "Just a second! Stay where you are…Gods-damn it, stop touching my chest you perverted hag!"

A second voice presented itself, a mellifluous aria colored with youth and wisdom and a touch of detachment usually associated when one is beginning to pry sobriety's tentacles off her. "Ahhh, but how can I turn away? You've grown three times larger since last we've met…."

"Liar! You popped in last night and tried to disrobe me!"

"Oh but it was so warm, so…_uncomfortable_. Would you have preferred to sleep in such loose clothing? I know I would not. I was only trying to help—"

"Trying to help my freshly shaven armpits! You intended to go full tilt on my virgin ass!"

Joyous clapping. "Thank you for reminding me! I've almost forgotten to take my sweet glance at the round posterior that's so captivated my waking dreams! Come, Reimu-chan, let Grandma Gap pinch those cheeks…."

"NO! GET AWAY! GET AWAY, YOU BAT!" Something wooden and heavy moved within and the shattering of glass pierced the silence. There was also that same sound of droning again, an action of wind being sucked in, expelled, and being sealed in a tight space all at once. "MY BOOTY SHALL NOT BE PLUNDERED!"

At that moment realization dawned on Aya like the rising of the sun. She dropped the Bunkachou and its pen and fumbled madly with the camera in her breast pocket. "By the Gods I've been blessed! I almost never get the chance to research so early in the day! C'mon, damn it!"

"Get a hold of yourself!" Momiji growled out, snatching the tengu by the shoulders and shaking her. "For heaven's sake, you're on a mission to snag that One Big Scoop!"

"But I want Miss Reimu's plundered booty committed to a special place in my Special Box! This. Is. My. Only. Chance!" Her words splintered with each rough jostle on her frame.

"DON'T BE STUPID!"

A heavy thud, a cacophony of disturbed glass and rattling objects. "Yukarin, I am _warning_ you. You go any further and I will banish you – _banish you!_ – into a dimension not even YOU can get out of! There's an _ofuda_ with YOUR NAME ON IT just waiting TO BE USED! Hey, are you listening to me—?"

Aya seized her colleague's wrists. "Let. Go. Of. Me! You're. Making. Me. Sick!"

"Now why go and do that? She's giving you a lesson in _discipline_, and you should do well to remember." The fabric of reality parted like curtains billowed on a wind, and from the eyes that never blinked and the darkness that saw no light she emerged. Her form coalesced, congealed and solidified as she planted her feet into the physical realm, a rippling reflection settling into its previously calm, untouched state.

"Miss Yakumo!" Momiji exclaimed, surprised. She let go of Aya, who stumbled back dizzyingly and slipped off the porch and to the ground. Instead she fell into Yukari's encircling arms, and when she looked up into the youkai's sleepy smile she screamed. "Hello, little Aya~ Do you still want to be my Shikigami? I've only a fox and a cat, see, so I'd love to add some diversity among the drab and drear that is my Boundary."

"I already told you, I'm against animal abuse!" said Aya as she struggled. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

Yukari feigned hurt and as a result crushed the girl to her bosom even tighter. "I can't ignore such a cute candidate, even if you do fumble around in the dark. Reality is so thin, so fragile, one can easily sever the veil separating truth and illusion. I see it as a matter of letting go and hanging on, but for all intents and purposes" she leaned close and whispered in the shell of that pointed ear "I find it _very difficult_ to abandon what's already been established, and even more so when you're grasping that which is outside your reach."

"Please, Miss Yakumo," pleaded Momiji, "Unhand Aya at once! We're not here to bring up past grievances!"

"Grievances?" said Yukari, her brow curiously arched. "I bear no grievances, nor do I hold grudge toward little Miss Aya. In her eyes her word is true and brooks no lie, no man or youkai can sway her. The truth is absolute above one and all." Then her hands struck as a black widow spider would to an unlucky insect trapped in her web. They burrowed into Aya and dropped her belongings to the grass – her camera, her spare pen and notepad, and her _hauchiwa_. Like the retreating tide she snatched the Bunkachou and opened it, planting a foot on the small of the tengu's back and pushing her away, her smile cruel and sly and melancholy. "But the truth _cannot_ be absolute, nor can it be relative or objective or subjective. Truth, in all honesty, is black and white. There is no grey area, no color associated to any one concept. You should know by now, little Aya, that looking at things from one angle that does not give you all the pieces. The big picture, the _whole picture_, must be put together piece by jigsaw piece until each angle is captured, connected, and adjusted to fit perfectly with the big picture frame. The question is will you be able to look at the picture and accept it as it is?"

"Give me back the Bunkachou," Aya demanded, scrambling to her feet, "and then we'll talk!"

"Aya, stand down," said Momiji, taking her friend by the wrist just as she started forward. "Know your place." She leveled an even stare at the youkai, who was flipping through the pages in the Bunkachou.

Aya whirled on her. "What did you say?"

"What's going on out here?" came Reimu's voice, and in seconds the shrine's sole priestess appeared on the porch brandishing a quarterstaff. "What are you up to now—"She stopped in midsentence, appraised her robed guest slowly. "Yukarin…what are you doing?"

"Nothing for you to worry over," said the woman, waving a dismissive hand at her as her eyes roved through row after row of text. "You can't help these girls even if you wanted to."

"You don't know that! I've yet to ask what they want—"

"Stay out of this," was the cold, biting response. Reimu kindly stayed quiet, whatever she was going to say dying in her throat. Yukari resumed reading where she had left off. After a full minute, her eyes adopted a mischievous, all-knowing sheen. "The Moon, eh? Are you girls looking to be the first youkai to walk it?"

"If that's what it takes to get the truth, then yes!" exclaimed Aya. "I don't need a spacesuit to mark the surface!"

Yukari tapped a lacquered nail against the paper. "If that's the case, then I shouldn't be here."

Aya felt all the fight and verve deflate from her like a balloon releasing hot air. "Wh-What?"

"_You've_ been to the Moon, Lady Yakumo?" asked Momiji. "But the book…there's no mention of youkai at all…."

Yukari tittered. "Well of course there wouldn't be anything on youkai! America can be _so_ xenophobic, yet they openly preach diversity and unity when in fact your next door neighbor could be plotting a mass shooting or tinkering with a letter bomb. They want no part in correlating with people like us, at least those who are aware of and go to extraordinary lengths to debunk our existence. Ah, but I'm getting off-topic. Yes, I have been to the Moon, more than a thousand years ago in fact. I brought with me a battalion of youkai and waged war against the Lunarians, but they were a most troublesome lot. Our numbers suffered and we were rerouted back to Earth in little time, wounded but none the worse for wear." She closed the Bunkachou and disposed it in Aya's waiting hands. "As you can tell they don't take too kindly to outsiders, especially when it concerns the Outside World and its technological advancement. I must warn you to be of constant vigilance should you decide to make the journey there."

"Oh we're going there, alright," said Aya, holding the Bunkachou protectively against her chest. "Momiji and I are going to request permission from Lady Scarlet so we can get the answers for ourselves…and for Sakuya!"

"We are?" Momiji posed tentatively.

"Damn right we are!" Aya confirmed fiercely.

The border youkai's smile widened, her gaze nearly blinding. "Oh? And pray tell how will you get there? Those materials the maid gathered at Marisa-chan's abode aren't going to hold a spaceship together, and the kappa's aeroplanes don't go very far." She stroked her chin. "My little tengu, whatever are you going to do?"

"You're the Youkai of Gaps," Aya pointed out. "How about taking us there?"

Yukari laughed. "What use is there? They will recognize my approach and most definitely attack us on sight. Believe you me, Earth's technology is primitive compared to that of the Lunar providences. You wouldn't stand a chance."

"What about Miss Reimu?" said Momiji, "Surely she knows at least one person who is proficient in aviation?"

"Reimu knows nothing; neither do the few humans that cross the Border, and there is not one person who is learned in that craft. Merely merchants who seek trade and illegal immigrants wishing for a better life, they are."

Aya was at a loss for words, desperately grabbing for them as they fluttered away and beyond her reach. "Then…then…who can help us?"

Yukari's features loosened, hardened into petrified stone. "Indeed…who _can_ help? If not Lady Scarlet and those industrial kappa, who will show you the way into the eye of the storm, where rain and hail are murder and the winds howl with rage and promise untold destruction? Who shall guide you to light and abysmal silence, in which the stars are not so cold and the silver of their hearts not so black and raw?"

"Yukarin…." Reimu uttered in a wisp of breath, equally dumbstruck and amazed at the scene unfolding.

Yukari turned her back on Aya and Momiji, and Aya and Momiji watched her with unanswered questions and helpless curiosity in their eyes. A slim white hand slipped from the folds of its voluminous sleeve and pointed toward Gensokyo's heartlands – in the opposite direction the pair of tengu had come. "If there is one person who knows all there is to the Moon and its harrowing past, it would be none other than Doctor Eirin Yagokoro. She may find her in the far southeast in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. When you enter, look for a white-haired girl by the name of Fujiwara no Mokou. Speak kindly, and she will escort you to Eientei, the place where Miss Eirin resides. You'll be on your own once you get there."

Aya scratched furiously in the Bunkachou, her writing barely legible to read. "Bamboo Forest of the Lost…Eirin Yagokoro…Fujiwara no Mokou…Eientei…southeast…That's everything!"

"Do not forget to fly low!" Yukari warned the girls, "For if you do you shall surely miss the forest."

Aya nodded and snapped her book shut. "Let's go, Momiji. We should be there by eventide if we hurry."

"Yes, do hurry," said Yukari. "I wouldn't want you wandering in the dark all night."

"We will find Miss Fujiwara," said Momiji, indicating her eyes with a finger. "I'll lead Aya by the hand so the poor crow doesn't vanish in thin air." She smirked at the dirty glare Aya sent at her.

Yukari nodded. "Yes, please do that. I hate wandering in the dark, too. You have enough daylight before the sun descends. Go towards the light and never stray from it."

The tengu made ready to leave and take flight, but before doing so Aya turned around and did something that stunned Momiji and Reimu to the core: she bowed low, very low, to the Youkai of Boundaries. "Thank you, Lady Yakumo, for your assistance. It is greatly appreciated and will be used to its fullest extent. For that, I am eternally grateful. Please forgive this foolish tengu for her behavior."

Yukari smiled a little smile. "The past is past, and what's done is done. No man or youkai can change that, not even God. We learn from our mistakes and mature along the broken aftermath by growing in the warm sun or withering in the sterile darkness. Heed these words, Aya Shameimaru, and perhaps someday your words shall be more than false truths. Go now, girls, and be sure to give little Eirin my regards. She'll be delighted to hear from an old friend."

"We'll make sure we let her know," said Aya, straightening up. "Again, thank you for dispensing your knowledge. If you'll excuse me…."

"Yes, yes. Off with you. Do not delay!" And with those words, the crow and wolf tengu departed.

* * *

When they were gone, Yukari returned to the porch. As she made her way inside, Reimu snatched the hem of her sleeve and asked, "Okay, what just happened? What's this talk about the Moon and colorful prose?"

The Youkai of Boundaries offered her a coy smile. "My dear priestess, what you just saw was the beginning of the end of an illusion, the first impact to shattering a thirty-year-old dream. It won't be long now." She looked over her shoulder and gazed upon the visible apparition of the full moon. "Indeed…Eirin won't know what hit her."

Reimu didn't pursue the issue. She wouldn't pursue it again for another month when the storm was in full swing.


	6. VI: JOKER BLACK: Lovely Illusive Dream

**Disclaimer: **All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**VI.  
**_JOKER BLACK: Lovely Illusive Dream_

The sun hid behind the migrating bulk of cloud, and Eientei was once again submerged in shadows.

"Are you looking to see if the rabbits are here?" Kaguya Houraisan inquired to the silver-haired woman standing at the window. "It should almost be time."

Her companion nodded tightly, shuffled her weight from one foot to the other. "The hour is approaching, my Lady. Don't you worry; Tewi and the others are preparing the festivities for when they do arrive. When the first star appears only then will we hear the first rousing melodies of the old marching songs."

"I'm looking forward to it," said Kaguya after taking a sip of tea. "I've been yearning for some _mochi_ since I began my fast the day the autumn solstice ended."

The woman at the window chuckled, hands clasped behind her back wringing like a fetus in the womb. "There will be plenty to go around, My Lady. Ah, but please, do leave _some _for the pilgrims. You're not the only person that has a throbbing sweet tooth."

"I rather like the idea of testing my wits on the fellows saucy enough to snatch the plate from right under my nose. Gods know, I can't remember the last time I went toe to toe with a cottontail."

A fixed smile, deep, dark blue eyes straining to look past the wall of bamboo at an even more blue sky. "Well, there _was_ that one time…but you _did_ say you wanted to remain here, tried to so hard to let you be in peace." A nonchalant shrug. "It was a good thing I was there that day. I can't imagine what they would have done to you had I not volunteered."

Kaguya set the teacup on its plate, the motion stiff and mechanical, her face blank and white as sculpted marble.

"I like living in peace and quiet," the woman continued. "Gensokyo is so rich with color and full of life. We're protected from the elements and the youkai dwelling here don't bother attacking us at all." A callused hand pressed against the pane and she leaned her weight on it. "If I had to choose between Eientei and the Moon, I wouldn't hesitate to say that my place is here, with my Lady and Reisen and Tewi and all our rabbit friends. I don't need anybody else to make me happy."

"Aren't you forgetting someone?" the Lunarian princess ventured delicately after a pause.

The woman shook her head. "Of course not, I named everyone off the top of my head. I've lived in this mansion and set up shop in this mansion for thirty years now. What would make you think that I would forget the very people I've come to know as my friends for so long? I would never forget them or you, not for all the riches and knowledge in this world." She turned her head away. "I can't believe you would say such a thing."

Silence. Birds twittered and called from deep within the forest. Gingko trees traded hushed secrets from leaf to leaf. Mortars held in rabbit hands pounded at rice and crushed and worked it into paste.

Kaguya sighed, picked up the teacup, took a sip. "No, you're right. You didn't forget anyone. I'm sorry to have troubled you, Eirin."

"Then all is forgiven," said Eirin Yagokoro as she smiled upon her princess. "Everyone makes mistakes, even a lady of high and noble blood, so please don't be so hard on yourself. What would the rabbits think if they saw you with such a face?" She pushed off the window and clasped her hands. "The summer solstice is a day of celebration. For just this day let us forsake our troubles and be merry. What do you say?"

It was Kaguya's turn to shrug. "I can't argue that. So be it! Anyone caught displaying an iota of negative behavior shall have their ears and tails chopped off to serve with my tea! Besides, the meat biscuits I make just aren't cutting it."

"And what would happen if you saw a human who wasn't having a good time?" said Eirin. "What would you do if that human didn't want to partake in festivities?"

Kaguya set the cup down and leveled her gaze on the fair doctor, her tone neutral. "Then I would pull her off to the side and remind her why she is here in the first place."

The corner of Eirin's lips twitched, shoulders flexing. "Because I wanted to keep Lady Kaguya company; because I wanted to protect Lady Kaguya until my dying breath."

The princess nodded. "Yes. Yes, I suppose so. Oh but Eirin! I've been by myself for a thousand years, traveling the Outside World with love-struck mortals at my heels and drawing youkai away from the rabbits as they harvested the crops and hid the bushels. If you wanted to be by my side, why did you not go in exile with me?"

More tensing, but her posture remained relatively stable. "I was not there when they stowed you aboard the ship. My Lady, why are you bringing this up…?"

"And when they came to fetch me," Kaguya continued, "I saw that you were not among them. Why was that, Eirin? What could have prevented you to forget about me—"

"I didn't forget you!" the doctor snapped. "I didn't forget you or anyone! By Endymion, I'm over _two-thousand years old_, how could I _possibly_ forget all the things that have happened to me?"

Kaguya shrugged again. "I'm not accusing you of forgetting, Eirin. I'm just saying I'm wondering why you didn't seize the chance any sooner."

"I had business to take care of, things that could not be put off any longer." Eirin crossed her arms and showed the dark-haired girl her shoulder. "I would never forget about you, Kaguya. No. No, I would never do that, not to a person I've been close to all my life. I love you and I love the friends I have made."

"I know you do."

"I would never betray anyone for the sake of myself."

"I know."

"If I so much as deny or act against those words, I will never forgive myself. I won't ask for forgiveness. I would rather be cursed and spat upon than endure the torrent of their pity. I will not accept that."

"I'm really sorry, Eirin," Kaguya said wearily, folding her hands in the valley of her lap. "I shouldn't have brought it up, especially with the solstice drawing ever closer. Let's put this issue behind us and have a good time tonight." When Eirin didn't respond immediately, the girl added pleadingly "Come on, Eirin. We won't have another night like this until the equinox. I really am sorry. I didn't mean to offend you—"

"No, no, it's alright, Lady Kaguya," the doctor interjected with another radiant smile. "You've apologized to me, therefore you're forgiven. Don't you worry, I'm not offended. I've been told worse, so your comments are like a persistent mosquito compared to a harmful bee-sting."

"…I'm glad to hear that," the princess managed to say. She reached for her cup, but thought better of it and pulled away. "Will you be attending the reveling?"

"That waits to be seen," said Eirin as she tugged at the lab coat. "I might have last-minute visitors."

"But we agreed you would close early…."

The silver-haired woman turned away. "I don't recall. Was it yesterday we spoke of this?"

"It was _two weeks ago_."

Eirin gave a sheepish laugh and rubbed the back of her neck. "Ah, is that so? No wonder it felt so long ago…it must have slipped my mind."

"Yes, it must have," Kaguya said blankly.

"My apologies, Milady, I hope I didn't upset you. I had no intention to."

A disgruntled exhale. "Your intention is unfounded, Eirin. I'm just disappointed you'd forget a simple conversation."

"You know how busy I can be when I am attending my post. The customer is first and foremost and always right. I wouldn't want them to complain of my inability to perform the most basic of procedures." She shifted in place, tapped the tiles with stiletto heels. Then she glanced behind her and added sincerely, "Wouldn't you agree?"

Again the curtain of quiet fell. Amidst the background symphony playing in the mansion, Kaguya's pale white slender fingers took on a life of their own and fiddled with the handle of the teacup, nails poking at smooth porcelain. She bent her chin and peered into the pool of lime green liquid she had poured for herself what seemed like hours ago. She breathed a tiny sigh and the tea contained within the cup rippled, wave after wave in rapid succession. Finally, she said, "No…you're right. Your duty is important, and I cannot keep you from carrying out your services to the sick and needy." She settled both hands on the saucer. "I'm so selfish…."

"Don't be," said Eirin. "You are you and I am I; we are not so perfect. Ah, but don't you worry - I _will_ close down the clinic the minute the equinox approaches, I promise you that much. Will that be alright with you?"

"Yes, Eirin, it is," was Kaguya's strained response. "Now please, if you don't mind, I should like to be left alone. There are some last minute matters that I must attend to before the celebration begins."

"Of course, Milady. If you are wanting of my assistance, you know where to find me." With a final adjustment of her coat, Eirin Yagokoro tipped her cap to the Lunarian princess and departed from the room.

Kaguya Houraisan had not looked up from her tea, nor did she bother to do so when the muscles in her neck stiffened and begged to be flexed. Memories of centuries past flooded the gateway to her mind, each fragment clear as crystal and sharp as diamond, slivers of glass reflecting a common theme: slender, dexterous hands absent of callus and faded scar; impossibly blue eyes filled not with grief or madness but warmth and protective steel; and a mouth that spoke not with a forked but a straight tongue….

Kaguya released a shaky breath, emotions welling in the pit of her stomach, dark irises stinging. "Where has the time gone?" she asked the emptiness with barely a whisper. "Where, oh where, is the girl I had once known?"

She had the answers, the story and all its intricate, Faustian details, but still the princess wondered where she went.

Where oh where that girl from the far-flung past could have gone….


	7. VII: The Snake Who Speaks With Two Heads

**Disclaimer: **All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

_A/N: A long chapter is LONG, so I split it in half. I'll be posting the second half later tonight._

* * *

**VII.****  
**_The Snake Who Speaks With Two Heads_

The Bamboo Forest of the Lost was usually an insufferably quiet place. Non-sentient youkai and other such beasts roamed between the thickets, snuffling, grunting, howling as they picked up on the trail of panicked prey. Bamboo grew and spread in every aimless direction, hiding the naked earth and barring any ray of sunlight that would dare filter through shoots of leaves towering tall and mighty. It was one place no human dared to tread.

But there was one who braved the perils of the secluded, who sought the unknown and controlled their every step and action with the blaze of a phoenix's undying fire. She moved when they were least susceptive to their environs. She stayed still as stone when they savored the air for mortal flesh, her muscles tensing, her hands twitching, sparking. Her eyes were always searching when they were at rest, her mind plotting and analyzing as she stalked and hunted and killed and mapped every inch of the continuously expanding bamboo.

As it was, the forest was contained in a microcosm that saw little if any light at all. If it was not dangerous as the tales claimed it to be, one would be taken aback by the bonfire roaring in the center of a round, wide clearing…and the activity surrounding it.

Fujiwara no Mokou dropped the skewer of _toriniku_ onto the wooded plate and held it out to the rabbit over the counter. "Here you go, cottontail. Enjoy your meal."

"Thank you," said the eager lapin, and he took his dish and went to join his pals at the clearing's edge. He was the last customer standing in line on her end.

She approached the opposite wall of the stand and plunged greasy, sticky hands into a stone basin full of water. "Oi! Peter! Brer!" she called. "How we doing up front?"

"Everythin' be goan mighty fine, Miz Mo'kou!" said Brer, who spoke in a thick Southern accent. "This food's sellin' fast like my dear sweet mama's carrot pie!"

"Aye, the day's been very busy," said Peter as he looked at each guest check tacked to the back of his stand. "We might have to make another trip to the mansion again; running low on ingredients."

"What'd we need?" Mokou said, drying her hands off with a towel.

"_Tare_ sauce, for one. Salt and garlic and asparagus, to name a few. Oh, and carrots, lots o' carrots. Want me to make the run?"

"I'm gonna need you front and center, Pete. Still waiting on Tewi to come back and give us the okay. Don't want to end up youkai chow on the way there, yeah?" The girl's gaze roved around the bonfire, taking in the retinue of workers scrambling to put together orders called back by Brer and the other chefs tending to customers. "Am I right, folks? You an' youkai don't mix. Whaddya say to that?"

"No, Boss!" the workers answered simultaneously. "We don't wants ter be chow at all!"

"Which is why me an' the fellows on the hill are doing their damnedest making your bellies happy and those fluffy cotton balls attached 'n' in one piece." She crossed to the other side of the bonfire and yanked on the tail of a tall hare named Basil, who was attempting to sneak raw chicken gizzards down his gullet. Ignoring his ranting and raving, she continued, "No youkai is going to dare take a chance attacking the warrens, not if I got somethin' to say about it. So all you boys and girls who managed the journey wherever you hailed from don't have to worry; those things that go bump in the dark you leave to me. Now come on, pick up the pace. I don't wanna catch any of you slackin' off!"

"Aye aye, Boss!" said the workers. "Right away!"

As they worked and tended and cleaned, Fujiwara no Mokou strolled the circumference of the bonfire. She checked the still with Vanilla Rabbit and Blaze (the only cat among the warrens and youkai who shared the same fire-wielding capabilities as Mokou herself) as it proceeded to ferment the sap from the bamboo trees (which were tapped earlier this month and boiled prior). She accepted a crude axe from Usagi Miyamoto and with a few other lapines cut down several wild stalks to sever and use to fill soups and rice. She checked and double-checked containers of ingredients and wrote what needed to be procured from Eientei with the bunny siblings Ruby and Max at her side. She even showed the feasting kits how to punish gluttonous hares by setting Basil's tail aflame.

This was how Fujiwara no Mokou spent most of her days. It had been this way ever since she had drunk the Hourai Elixir thirteen-hundred years ago, a potion which granted a person the gift – and curse – of immortality. Not with the same rabbits that surrounded, but probably with their ancestors who struggled to coexist and achieve equality among their human counterparts (for back then there was no such place as the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, no such place as Eientei or Gensokyo). She had drunk that elixir in a fit of madness, her only goal in life to seek the Lunar Princess Kaguya Houraisan and rip the life from her body; after all, she was the one who had driven Mokou's father to chase after the foreign beauty, only to be humiliated after he failed to complete the trials that were the Five Impossible Requests.

But therein lay the problem: Kaguya had also embraced the tempting curiosity that was the Hourai Elixir. How long ago didn't matter to Mokou, and perhaps even Kaguya as well. Mokou was concerned with chasing after the long-haired seductress and put her through a never-ending gauntlet of hell. Of all the years spent wandering the earth, from the time of feudal Japan to the stabilization of the Hakurei Border and colonization of Gensokyo, she had spent half her days hunting and fighting her enemy to the death, killing her in so many different ways Mokou could not keep track of or even remember the number.

However, as centuries passed and civilization advanced, their feud arrived at a standstill. Kaguya had grown tired of the violence and constant resurrection. She wanted to make life tolerable assisting the rabbits of Eientei and exploring the unmapped regions to the east. She had gone so far as to try and convince Mokou that they cease this war and let bygones be bygones. There was no point in murdering one another if the other was immortal.

Perhaps they could work out a deal, she had said. There were many mouths to feed at the mansion and, starting forty years ago, a new arrival had moved in to establish a pharmacy. Why not, Kaguya proposed, offer each other their services? For exchanging herbs, meat and organs taken from dead youkai, Mokou would receive the goods needed to survive, particularly food, water, clothing, and anti-magic seals; and Kaguya supplied with ingredients to stock the pharmacy and concoct medicine. Kaguya's friend had no need for monetary value, so a simple bartering system would suit everyone involved just as well. Would it not be better for the two of them to support than to kill on a daily basis?

When she had finished, Mokou had laughed outright and crushed the princess's head in a fiery pulp. Barter? With the girl she swore to haunt until the end of time? How preposterous! No one would dare make a fool out of her!

But the look Kaguya gave her, and the days that followed, made her think otherwise.

So here she was, running a free yakitori stand among earthbound rabbits in the middle of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Customers were few and far, but there was enough food to keep her going for awhile before she resorted to hunting and bartering. Sometimes the transaction was made to Eientei's rabbits, and other times with Kaguya Houraisan (which more or less went sour and ended in bloody rebirth), but this was how they spent their days. Fujiwara no Mokou couldn't imagine living her eternal life this way, not when she had committed herself to guiding lost mortals out of the woods and eating off fresh game. If she had been asked by Kaguya to engage in a trade pact thirteen-hundred years ago, Mokou would have likely refused and go for the girl's throat…putting her mortality on the line, all in the name of insatiable revenge.

Maybe, if she sat down and really, _really_ thought it over, this way of life was for the best—

"You look constipated."

Mokou blinked. "Wait…what?" She turned to the source of the voice and saw a dark-haired rabbit-girl in pink dress smirking up at her. "Tewi? How long have you been standing—"

"Long enough to count those extra little wrinkles between those crow's feet," finished the youkai. Grinning widely she added, "You want some plums to loosen you up? How about that enema for that stick up your—"

"Never mind that!" the immortal snarled. She took a swipe at Tewi, who ducked under it and hopped away. "Now that you're here, what can you tell us about the forest? Is it safe for travel?"

"Oh yes, yes, I chased 'em all away, back to their burrows and round toward the heartlands where they belong."

"Good to know."

"Ah, but we got us some visitors: a bird and a dog. Neck deep in the hollows, they are. They're definitely lost."

"Why didn't you lead 'em out?"

"You know, Fuji-nee-chan, I would if I could but, get this, they don't want out. They're looking to get into Eientei, speak with the good doctor."

"So?" said the immortal, ignoring the tic that developed at being called such a name. "What do you want me to do? Maybe they need something."

"They want the Dish that ran away with the Spoon," Tewi said. "They wanna scoop a bit o' that party mix the fellas and I at home call the Moon."

Suddenly, the smell of grilled yakitori and fried vegetables wasn't so appetizing. A few of the workers reacted with stiffened backs and wary, cursory glances over hunched shoulders.

Mokou sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh, what the hell. I thought I heard the last of this shit…."

"I can take you to them," said Tewi. "We can still catch up."

"Fine," Fujiwara no Mokou untied her apron and tossed it to the side. "Brer! Peter! Keep at your stations! I'll be back in a bit." Then, facing Tewi Inaba, she said, "I'm right behind you."

* * *

"You know," began Aya, "when you said you were going to take me by the hand and lead us through the forest, I didn't think you were being serious."

"…I wasn't," answered Momiji.

"So," Aya trailed off, gazing at their intertwined fingers, "why are you holding my hand?"

Momiji resisted the urge to roll her eyes, so in favor of it she huffed dramatically and tugged the crow tengu onward. "_Because_…I pictured this place to be a labyrinth of sorts, _not_ a directionless, invasively growing jungle!" Her last words bounced among the emptiness, answered only by the distant cawing of angry, raucous birds.

"Why don't I take a peek above the canopy?" Aya asked the wolf-girl. "I might be able to point us in the right direction if I see it."

"Lady Yakumo warned us to fly low," said Momiji. "Besides, what if you come back down in a different area? Do you see how tall these blasted trees are?" She indicated the bamboo stalks towering high, high above their heads, blocking the sun from filtering in. "I wouldn't take any chances. It's bad enough we have to go about this on foot."

"Maybe Miss Fujiwara has an abode," offered Aya. "Something like a hut, or a burrow." She paused, turned the words around in her mind. Then: "Maybe she swings from trees and beats her chest while screaming unintelligently at a younger girl challenging her leadership."

Momiji stopped and stared at the girl as if she grew an extra head.

Aya fidgeted under the intensity. "Hey, how do you think we found Marisa? If an explosion can take us to Marisa, then there must be a sign that'll lead us on the right path to Miss Fujiwara."

"And therein lies the problem," the wolf tengu declared sardonically. "We don't know _where to find her_. Lady Yakumo could have at least given us a hint; it might not have been a good start but it would've been _something_ to go by."

"Well, I still say we should go airborne. Ole Yukari may have said fly low before entering, but she never objected to us _taking advantage_ while in the forest. It's worth a shot, don'tcha think?"

"You can do whatever you want. I'm not going to get myself more lost than I am now by gambling on a risk that you might not be able to pull off."

"I hate to say this but I'm starting to think this is one of those times where we just shut the hell up and get with reality for once, 'cause I don't see us making it to Eientei with the way we're going."

"Do you have any better ideas?"

"It's one or the other: either we hack and slash our way to Fujiwara no Mokou, or," Aya pulled the _hauchiwa_ from her belt, "we uproot how many acres that's between us and Eientei and _make_ Fujiwara no Mokou appear. So, what do you say?"

Momiji thought, her tail twitching idly. "I say—"

"POUND IT!" barked a rough voice, and a fist engulfed in flame shot out through the bamboo trees, right between Aya and Momiji.

"Ayayayaya!" the former yelped. She stumbled over her feet and fell on her rear, so surprised at the abrupt arrival of a third party. Momiji unsheathed the curved sword at her side and braced for the next attack.

Instead the hand snatched a bundle of bamboo stalks and squeezed. It burst in a column of scarlet to reveal a scowling white-haired girl in red overalls that had seen much better days. She was standing with her hip jutting out and one hand stuffed in a pocket; the other dangled lazily, a tiny inferno dancing at her fingertips.

"Who are you?" Momiji demanded. "What business do you have with us?"

The girl in the overalls scoffed. "I should be askin' _you_ that, pup. Should be askin' you what you two shmucks were planning on doing to _my_ forest."

"We weren't going to do anything!" said Momiji. "We were trying to find our way back to the main path."

"Oh? Weren't you dead-set on carving your _own_ path through these trees, or, perhaps, bending the wind with the power of your will? 'Cause it sure as hell sounded like you were about to call _divine intervention_ on _our_ asses."

"They were only suggestions!" exclaimed Aya, who had picked herself off the floor to a sitting position. "I wanted to find us a faster way to Eientei before the sun set. We want to speak with the doctor there. Miss Eirin Yagokoro is her name."

The white-haired girl slowly turned on her. "Miss Eirin, eh? And what could she _possibly_ tell you strangers about the Moon?"

Aya gasped. "How do you know about—"

"I have eyes and ears all over this place. Nothing and no one can sneak by without my intervention. For plotting the destruction of the one place I and so many others call home," she stepped forward, the fire snaking up and coiling round her arm "I'm-a gonna have to smite ya."

"Don't you try us!" said Momiji, body slipping easily into a rigid fighting stance. "Take one more step and I'll—!"

"You'll what?" drawled the girl. "Even if you do get past me there's still Miss Eirin to deal with, and as far as I'm concerned, Eirin will not yield." Her countenance hardened. "No matter how you were raised or how good your intentions are, man or youkai, Eirin Yagokoro submits to _no one_. At any length, she will go to the ends of the earth to preserve that which is most sacred, even if it means _sacrificing_ _your life_." Another step and she snuffed out the flame with a clench of her fist.

"Wait a sec," said Aya. "If what you're saying is really true, why are _you_ the one threatening to end _our_ lives? I mean, did Miss Eirin put you up to it so she could conserve her strength for the more malcontent folks?"

The stranger did a double take. "What? N-No, she did not put me up to it! I don't even see let alone _speak_ to her!"

"Then how do you know her?" Momiji inquired.

"Because I was there at the mansion the day she arrived forty years ago. I've been in this forest almost all my life, controlling the wild youkai population and leading lost people to safety." The girl sighed and placed her hands akimbo. "I've even gone on to run a free _yakitori_ stand with the cottontails."

"You do _what_!" exclaimed Aya, jumping to her feet at the statement. "Wh-Who do you think you are, eating relatives of your own species?"

The girl smirked and put on a wicked grin. "Whoever said I was a bird? I'm a human through and through. Oh, and let me tell you, young 'un, I happen to find _cooked crow_ with a side of _marinated dog_ to be quite the delicious delicacy."

"Momiji, do something!" screeched Aya. She stumbled over and cowered behind her partner. "This chick can't be Fujiwara no Mokou! This gel's a cannibal _and_ a psycho!"

Momiji wrenched the crow-girl off her shoulders. "L-Let go of me this instant, you oaf! You're disrupting my balance!"

"Oh, what a pair they are, Miss Mokou, what a pair!" laughed a forth voice, and walking out from the thicket of bamboo trees strutted a floppy-eared rabbit-girl. She kicked up blades of grass and clapped with long wide swings of her arms. "I say, they make the perfect _manzai_. All's we need are a stage, lights, and an audience willing to laugh their spirits straight to Hakugyokurou!" She turned to Aya and Momiji and bestowed them a sweeping bow. "The name's Tewi Inaba. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, ladies."

"Umm, hi," said Aya.

"Hi," said Momiji.

"Did you just call that psycho chick of a cannibal Miss Mokou?" asked Aya, pointing at the white-haired girl.

"…Psycho chick?" Mokou grumbled.

"You mean this bony thing?" said Tewi, looking at Mokou who glared daggers at her. "Well for one she's no cannibal, and two, she's not psycho she's _tsundere_. But yeah, this is Fujiwara no Mokou alright, or Fuji-onee-chan as I like to call her. She's our unofficial security guard."

"I'm also a connoisseur for cooking up a _mean rabbit surprise_," growled Mokou.

"I'm sure you do. Ah, but enough about us, let's hear about you. You say you're on your way to Eientei, yes?"

"Indeed we are," said Aya, who had stepped out from behind and stood next to Momiji. "We have a few questions we want to ask your doctor, Miss Eirin Yagokoro."

"Oh, about the Moon, right?"

"_How_ do _you_ know about that?" Momiji posed to the rabbit-girl.

"Like Fuji-onee-chan said, we have eyes and ears from here to the unmapped regions. These things come and go wherever the wind may carry them, but I daresay not everything goes beyond these trees. This place _is_ pretty dangerous."

"Well, we've gotten this far without getting attacked," said Momiji. "I don't suppose you won't mind escorting us to Eientei, at the very least?"

"Not at all," Tewi smiled and knocked Mokou to the front with a hearty slap. "Fuji-onee-chan, I'll leave it up to you to bring them there. Safely, of course; I wouldn't want crow-nee-chan here to be minus a wing or two."

"Aaaah!" Aya screamed and again hid behind Momiji, who rolled her eyes in annoyance.

Tewi laughed. "Oh, you're a riot. Mokou, I'll let the workers know you'll be on your way. Ladies, it was a charming experience, but alas! I must go. Ta-ta now! Don't give Eirin-onee-san too hard of a time!" She bade the tengu pair another flourishing bow, then parted the trees and disappeared.

Mokou shook her head. "What a nuisance, that girl is. She didn't even give me time to thank her! Pound it; she knows I'm grateful anyway. So, I'm guessin' you two want to get on a move on, then. Follow me and stay close. It's very easy to get lost here."

"Thank you," said Aya, "but please, try and suppress those urges. I like keeping myself in one piece."

"Trust me, I won't," Mokou scoffed. "You taste too much like garbage."

* * *

Several minutes later, they reached their destination.

"Here you are," said Mokou, pushing aside the last of the bamboo stalks. "Welcome to Eientei."

Aya's jaw dropped. "_Uwaaah_…it's so huge!" That statement could have never been truer. Eientei was a tall two-storey building, but its structures were vast and its walls reached so high it was as if the conical rooftops could drill holes in the sky. The courtyards were dotted with the signature bamboo trees, but today they were resplendent with rabbits – rabbits sitting at tables decked with bright, cheery linen; rabbits eating from trays of sugary _dango_, plates of sliced carrots; rabbits drinking from orange bottles that had to contain a carrot-flavored concoction; rabbits on ladders hanging frilly streamers and paper lanterns on branches and stanchions; rabbits tussling other rabbits in a corner surrounded by cheering rabbits; rabbits gossiping and rabbits bleating drunken ballads in a tongue as old and free as the earth under their feet and paws. There were rabbits absolutely everywhere! "There are so many. What are they celebrating?"

"Tonight is the full moon," said Mokou. "The Earth rabbits throw a party every year in honor of the Jade Rabbit, who is said to live on the Moon pounding rice to make_ mochi_. It's usually held on the summer solstice and autumn equinox."

"The summer season doesn't begin in less than two weeks," Momiji noted. "Why so early?"

Mokou shrugged. "Beats me."

"How are we going to find Miss Yagokoro in all this?" asked Aya.

"I've never actually been inside Eientei," said Mokou, "but I know there's a lobby as soon as you enter. There's a bunch of hallways with signs on the walls. You can't miss it."

"Thanks for helping us out, Miss Fujiwara," said Aya. "If it weren't for you and Miss Tewi, we would still be wandering around in circles."

"It's what I do. When you're ready to leave, give me a holler. I'll just be hanging about near the entrance."

"If things go well, we won't make you wait long," Momiji said. "I can only hope Miss Yagokoro will cooperate."

"I'm sure she will. Just" Mokou exhaled a stream of breath "don't expect her to be – how should I put this – _willfully compliant_. That woman…I hear she's a tricky one. You'd do well to pay close attention."

"Oh, we always do," said Aya. "We'll be sure to wring every drop from her. It's our job, after all."

Mokou smiled wryly. "I would guess so. Doesn't matter to me how you do it. I wouldn't want to get involved in this mess, anyway."

"What do you mean, 'this mess'?" Momiji questioned, ears perking warily. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

"It's not the fact that I don't _want_ to tell you," said the white-haired Fujiwara as she made her leave for the trees. "It's the fact that _it's not my place_ to tell you. I'm not the person you need to ask regarding this matter. If you really want answers, talk to Eirin. I don't need to tell you any more about her." Then she vanished before either girl could get a word in.

Momiji frowned. "I don't like where this is going, Aya. What Miss Fujiwara said about that doctor doesn't sit right with me."

Aya hummed to herself, tapping a finger on the Bunkachou. "Well, we're certainly not going to figure it out by standing around. If Miss Yagokoro is what she is, then it would be in our best interests to handle the interview as delicately as possible. It wouldn't do the scoop any good to offend her. Let's get a move on, while there's still light."


	8. VIII: Blue Eyed Jezebel

**Disclaimer:** Any characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**VIII.**  
_Blue-Eyed Jezebel_

They waded through the sea of rabbits, occasionally propelled by a drunken buck or a coney herding together her rambunctious kits. When they approached the landing, they found that the entrance lay open to them, the _shoji _door firm on its tracks. They stepped inside.

The lobby was a spacious area. It branched off into a number of corridors that were structured in a fashion similar to spokes on a wheel. On the walls were signs cut and hollowed from bamboo stalks with arrows pointing in the direction next to carved Hiragana characters, signs that directed one to many of the multitude of rooms scattered throughout the mansions: libraries, kitchens, dormitories, wine cellars, lounges, attics, sitting rooms, even…

"A clinic," said Momiji, gesturing to Aya one sign at the far right of the lobby. "'Eirin's Clinic', straight ahead."

They proceeded down the hall. Both sides were empty rooms each containing a hospital bed, the general medical equipment, and basic amenities a patient could want in a room while being treated. All the doors were closed, probably locked for the summer solstice.

"If it were me, I'd keep those doors open," Aya suggested as they passed one room with a curtain over the window. "Just in case any of the longears decide to take the step after 'blitzed'."

"That is odd," said Momiji. "You'd think you would at least have a few rooms available."

"The party's sorta like a holiday, right? So maybe they closed earlier than is usual."

As they reached the end of the corridor, they caught the sound of music, an assortment of flutes playing in tandem to an upbeat piano in the background. It was coming from the lone wooden door. The words on the latticed window read **Dr. Eirin Yagokoro, MD, Room #63078**.

"Here it is," said Momiji. "Remember what Miss Fujiwara said, Aya. Attention is the key."

Aya clucked her tongue and prepared to knock. "Of course I'll pay attention, Momiji. You should know how I conduct these interviews. Unlike some journalists I ask one question at a t—WHOA!" She jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding being hit in the face by the swiftly opening door.

"You are the worst person I've ever come to know!" said a rabbit-girl upon storming out into the hall. She had straight white ears on a head of purple locks and garbed in button-down shirt and knee-length skirt, and every part of her body followed her sharp motions as she whirled back at the entrance. "Year after year, it's always the same thing! Get your sorry ass off that chair and for once in your life be of sound mind like everyone else! It's been forty years; the least you can do is join us tonight and ask for forgiveness! And if you can't do that one thing, then you can go burn in hell!" Then she ran off, leaving two bewildered girls in her wake.

A voice behind them coughed politely. "I wouldn't be so surprised. Likewise she's done the same thing every year since we arrived on this planet." Aya and Momiji turned around and were met by a stately woman, appearing neither young nor old but an age indefinable by normal standards. Her slate blue eyes were set in an angular face, framed by silver tresses shading her forehead and spilling over shells of ears loosed by a long flowing braid. Those same eyes watched them, not moving but shifting views between a stunned crow and an alarmed wolf. "If only she could understand how _I_ feel," she continued with a heavy sigh, "I simply don't have the time to submerge myself in social festivities, but alas! The young are in such a hurry nowadays."

"Oh," said Aya, unsure of what to say. "Umm, are you Dr. Eirin Yagokoro, by any chance?"

"Yes I am," said Eirin Yagokoro, folding her arms under her chest. "To whom am I speaking?"

"Um, I'm Aya Shameimaru, and this is my colleague, Momiji Inubashiri. We run a small newspaper industry, Bunbunmaru, up topside on Youkai Mountain. We're doing a story on the Moon, see, and a few folks generously suggested we go to you for details. Ahem, if'n you are not _too_ busy, I hope."

Eirin closed her eyes, contemplating deeply, then opened them and said in a measured tone, "No, I believe I have a few minutes to spare. I've not received a patient since the start of the day. Let's talk in my office where it is much quieter."

"Thank you," said Momiji.

"Ah, but please, do forgive me if I do not answer your questions at the get-go," Eirin said as she ushered the pair inside. "It has been…many a year since last I spoke of the Moon."

"That's quite alright, Miss Yagokoro," Aya said gently. "We're in no rush. Take the time to gather your thoughts."

Eirin Yagokoro bestowed the crow tengu a brilliant smile. "Your kindness is very much appreciated, Miss Shameimaru. But please, call me Eirin; all my friends do." She laughed at the girl's flushed cheeks. Momiji rolled her eyes.

And the radio on the desk, which had gone unnoticed by the trio, continued to play the serene melody consisting both flutes and piano.

* * *

"So, how shall we begin?" Eirin posed once they were seated. "Ask me what you will, and I shall answer to the best of my ability."

"First things first," Aya said. "Are there such people as Lunarians, who are said to exist on the Moon?"

"Yes. I, for one, am a Lunarian."

"But yet you look human. What is the difference between a human and a Lunarian?"

"There is but one difference, and it is that we Lunarians possess a longevity mortal men yearn for. We are capable of living hundreds, nay, _thousands_ of years. It is even said among my people that there are those who are purported to live forever, but I can't say for sure how legitimate it is."

"If I may be so kind to ask" said Momiji, "but how old are you?"

"I am approximately two-thousand years old. I have witnessed many an event, unmitigated by the passage of time truly well-spent."

"What events can you name? Is there anything that stands out in particular?"

Eirin paused, rolled her shoulders in tight circles. "I have helped establish the founding of the Lunar Capital during an overdrawn Civil War, a process that took a century to build from the ground up and configure with the public's best interests in mind. I have constructed and overseen the creation of administration and fiduciary branches of a government struggling to preserve balance and integrity. I have also founded and regulated the structuring of modern medical science, made breakthroughs on illnesses that once were incurable, untreatable, and incorporated the production and marketing of antibiotics and vaccinations."

"You must have been a very important person," Aya said as she scratched furiously in the Bunkachou. "Were you also involved in military development?"

Eirin shook her head. "Nay, I am not fit to be called a soldier. My family, the Yagokoro, consists of mere physicians and academic scholars. I was but a lowly doctor whence the Civil War commenced, and during that I did not know the cold kiss of gunmetal. Such expertise belongs to Tsukuyomi, the man who fought and bled to unite his peoples under one banner. It is because of his efforts that defenses were bolstered to withstand the final remnants of civil dissent and internal mutiny."

"So would that imply you were involved in minor skirmishes following this Civil War? Or, if not on the battlefield, but on the sidelines administering to the wounded?"

The doctor tapped a lacquered finger on the desk's surface, a metronome of thought. "…No, I can't say have. By that time I had taught a number of students in basic medicine and anatomy to treat non-threatening injuries. Even so, I always made sure I attached a company of more experienced personnel to assist them, in case the younger should happen upon a person who could not be treated with the basic health kits. Otherwise, I attended to most if not all my duties behind a desk and buried in paperwork."

Aya nodded, wrote some more details down, scratching furiously.

Eirin shifted one leg over the other, straightened her back in the chair.

Momiji's ear twitched as if to swat away a fly, lips pressed together in a fine line.

The music on the radio continued on repeat, although at a lower, subdued volume.

"Okay," said Aya as she finished writing. "So, how long have you lived on Earth, more specifically Gensokyo? Do you like it?"

"I have lived here for forty years now," said Eirin slowly. "My friend and fellow resident of the mansion, Lady Kaguya Houraisan, welcomed me when I had nowhere else to go, gave me the means to continue my existence. I never hunger nor am I deprived of thirst. I am surrounded by a bevy of companions I have come to recognize as a second family. I have healed man and youkai alike back to health and am even renowned among the heartland. Life, as of so far, has been kind to me, to all who live under this roof."

"Is there a reason why you left the Moon?" Momiji asked. Eirin averted her gaze from the two tengu and did not respond. "Ah, what I meant was, you seemed to have had it made. Were you perhaps told by Tsukuyomi to come to Earth? Maybe to study humanity or any flora that could be brought back to make better medicine?"

Still Eirin did not answer. Aya swallowed thickly, wondering if they had struck a nerve. "Miss Yago—er, Eirin, are you okay—"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Eirin said, facing them with a sheepish smile. "I didn't mean to make you worry. I was simply trying to remember why I had left. Now let's see…why did _I_ depart from my beloved home? Yes, that's right! I wished to extend my services to the Earthlings, but when they learned of my longevity they refused to have anything to with me. I was searching for my good friend Lady Kaguya, wandering the world for many a week until…at last! I happened upon the most peculiar border patrol. As a matter of fact, it wasn't even a patrol at all; rather it was like a tear in physical reality. It took me awhile before I realized this tear lead straight past the Hakurei Border and into Gensokyo proper. It was another week from there I approached the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and was escorted to Eientei by that boorish girl…what was her name again…?"

"You mean Miss Fujiwara no Mokou," said Momiji.

"Yes, that's it. It was Miss Mokou who directed me here. Oh yes, I have her to thank as well, for if it were not for her and Lady Kaguya…why, I don't know where I would be."

Inside the two tengu breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to know the doctor was not burdened by their questioning. Things were going smoothly.

"Now Eirin, there's a reason why we are conducting this interview," Aya said. "We know a person who knows another person who wants to go to the Moon. We were told by _someone else_ that the supplies they gathered wouldn't be able to support them, nor would the kappa's works in-progress doesn't fly very far. How did _you_ get off the Moon?"

Surprise flashed across Eirin's face, but it was gone within the second. "I was transported," she said, and when she noted their confusion she reiterated with "I requested for permission to travel to Earth, and Lord Tsukuyomi granted it. Within a few hours I was aboard a ship and en route."

"Do you get to see any spaceships from outside Eientei?" asked Momiji.

"No, the ship I was on was the last. It's been forty years since I've seen one."

"Do you miss being among your people? Have you ever thought about going back, if you had the chance?"

At this Eirin sobered up, her expression firm as stone, and when she spoke it was measured but otherwise unreadable. "If I had a choice between returning to my motherland and staying at the mansion I consider my home…well, Miss Momiji, Miss Aya, allow me to say that there some things which are better off without me. The past is the past. Whether I'm there or not, nothing is going to change. I should like to keep my life as simple as possible until my spirit leaves the mortal plane and joins my ancestors. I want to die knowing I did the right thing without harboring an ounce of regret. To put it bluntly, ladies, of all the treasures in the world, I want to be happy and nothing else. It is the one dream I hope to never wake from."

Momiji made a noncommittal noise and nodded, her expression unchanged.

Aya had nothing else to say, but her face betrayed the laborious task of a mind churning oiled gears, processing thoughts on a spaceship that would always be out of her reach. She had never felt more disappointed in herself than ever before.

She was going to end the interview there, thank Miss Eirin as much information as she could divulge to them and let Momiji know they should tell Miss Mokou they're ready to leave and make due for Youkai Mountain. She was just about standing up, ready to offer her hand to the doctor and shake on it, when the corner of her eye caught a streak of grey set in wooden square.

It was a picture frame, situated between the radio and the wall. Reflexively she reached out, but instead withheld the motion and said, "Oh, do you, uh, mind…if I take a look, Eirin? Just real quick?"

Eirin blinked, then smiled and waved her hand dismissively. "Go right ahead. It's an old picture, taken long ago with some friends. Have a look, Miss Aya; there's no need to be shy about it."

"O-Okay."

Now Momiji was watching Aya, an eyebrow arched and ears standing tall and at front. Aya had the sensation of the wolf's stare on her, but the feeling of hesitation didn't last. She picked up the frame and looked.

A gasp choked out of her mouth, nearly lost her grip and dropped the thing.

"What's wrong?" Momiji asked, coming up next to the crow-girl.

Aya swallowed thickly, took a few deep breaths, and asked as steadily as she could, "Momiji…does this girl…look like Sakuya to you? Th-The one on the left?"

"Let me see." Aya passed the frame and Momiji stared at it. Her eyes widened. "By Tenma, she does! A little younger, yes, but she does. There's no mistaking that hair and those eyes!"

"She looks just like you, Eirin," Aya said to the doctor, amazement inflicted in her words. "The resemblance is as clear as day—"

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"Eh?" Aya reeled back, startled by the doctor's cold response. "But this girl…she looks an awful like a friend of ours—"

"She's not family, if that's what you're talking about," said Eirin with a friendly chuckle and smiled at their bewildered faces. "No, no, no! She's a friend of mine, one who was very dear to me. We had known each other since childhood."

"What happened to her?" Momiji asked slowly.

Eirin frowned and turned askance. "I don't know. We went on separate ways as we got older. I sent many a message to her, but to my heart's breaking I did not receive any one answer. Why, the last thought I had before I parted from the Moon was if she was okay, that she was too busy with her own life's work to make such a response."

"What about these two on the right?" Aya pointed them out.

"Those are the Watatsuki sisters, Toyohime and Yorihime. Former students of mine, and distant cousins. I often wonder how they are fairing…."

"Aya, we should go," said Momiji, who put a palm on the other's elbow. "It's getting late. Hatate wants us to close with her tonight."

"I don't recall her saying that—"

"_Yes, she did._ Come on."

"Oh, alright then. It was a pleasure speaking with you, Eirin. Our paper will do a world of good thanks to your participation." Aya held out her hand.

Eirin smiled and took it. "Please, I should be thanking _you_, Miss Aya. You've helped break apart the monotony I've been experiencing today."

Aya winced. "Err, Eirin, my hand…you're crushing it."

"Oh, sorry about that. I guess I don't know my own strength." She let go and watched Aya rub her smarting hand. "Would you allow me to show you the way out?"

"Th-That's alright, Eirin. We'll do just fine."

"Very well. Then may I wish safe travels to you, Miss Aya, Miss Momiji." She tipped her cap and watched them go, her smile wide and ever-present.

* * *

It was when they had reached the lobby that Momiji pulled Aya to the side and said: "I don't trust her. You shouldn't, either."

"But she sounded pretty genuine," said Aya. "I'd be upset too if I sent you a chain letter and you never passed it on to Hatate."

"_Aya_, did you not see the way she acted when you mentioned Sakuya's name? It was as if you uttered a taboo. People don't get defensive like that unless it's something that bothers them."

"Well maybe she _knows_ Sakuya. Maybe she's got some sort of beef against her."

"Whatever it is, it's worth looking into. We should ask Sakuya if she's had previous encounters with Eirin, maybe even ask Lady Scarlet herself."

"That doesn't change the fact that we don't have any means of transportation to the Moon. If the Watatsuki sisters are still alive on Earth, we could ask them."

"You heard what Eirin said, she hasn't seen a ship in forty years. And what are the chances of finding Miss Toyohime and Miss Yorihime?"

"It's possible..."

"But it's _unlikely_. Maybe we don't have to go to the Moon for answers. It wouldn't hurt to ask Sakuya or Lady Scarlet. They may just be the key to making this scoop big."

"I can tell you everything." Both tengu turned to the source of the hushed voice, a rabbit-girl with long violet hair and casual clothing.

Aya recognized her in an instant. "Hey, you're that chick who called Eirin a liar!"

"Who are you?" asked Momiji. "What do you know about the Moon?"

The girl gestured to herself."Reisen Udongein Inaba is my name; I'm Eirin's apprentice, and I know a lot of things about the Moon. I was with Eirin when we were exiled to this mansion forty years ago."

"Exiled?" Aya chirped incredulously. "For what?"

"I'll answer any of your questions, but" Reisen strained her ears, motioned her head left and right "but not here. Come with me. I know a place where we can talk."

Aya and Momiji exchanged nervous glances, then nodded and followed Reisen. The Moonborn rabbit lead them outside Eientei and skirted around the walls, weaving in and out through throngs of warrens and bamboo trees. Their new acquaintance kept tossing wary glances behind her, as if she were afraid she was being shadowed by some unknown entity.

Soon they were behind the giant building, an area devoted to stacks of crates, wine barrels, and a dismantled wooden cart. The ruckus of the party was muted by the cherrywood bulk of the mansion's structure. Dying sunlight pierced the canopy of dominating perennials, the sky a blushing sapphire.

"Okay, I think we're safe," said Reisen, once she had made absolutely sure the coast was clear. "I'm sorry if this is last minute, but I think you deserve to know the true story after being spoon-fed that horseshit Eirin's fond of giving out."

"You don't seem too fond of Eirin yourself," said Momiji.

"It's not that, it's" Reisen sighed "it's a very long story. I'm sure Eirin would tell if she had even a quarter of a mind, but she's too damn stubborn to do so. That's why, before you go, I will summarize as much as I can the events that drove Eirin to be this way."

"We're listening," said Aya, but she could not suppress the skepticism, the trepidation, coloring her words.

"Good. I'll start with the crisis which rocked the government forty years ago. Lunarians have come to know the week of April fourth to April eleventh as the Emergence of Apollo—ACK!" Reisen clutched her throat and doubled over, coughing harshly and violently.

Aya rushed to her aid, taking her by the shoulders and steadying her. "Miss Reisen! Miss Reisen, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"I…I can't…can't breathe," Reisen choked out. "My tongue…it…it's swelling…."

"Stay with her, Aya," said Momiji. "I'm gonna go get Eirin!"

Reisen collapsed to her knees and fell forward, dragging Aya with her. Her fingers scrabbled at the crow's skirt. "H-Hurry….I-I need…I need…." She succumbed to another round of dry, chest-rattling fit.

But Momiji never got the chance to fetch Eirin, for just as she made the move to run the doctor herself appeared around the corner, her features pinched with worry. "Reisen! Oh Reisen it's happening again, isn't it? Here, Miss Aya, I'll take her. There now, Reisen, it's going to be alright. I'm right here."

"Is she okay, doc?" the crow asked her. "She was fine one minute and the next she was hacking her lungs out pretty hard." Aya couldn't tell, not with Eirin's white-clad back obstructing the view.

"It's not serious, is it?" Momiji asked.

Eirin shook her head. "Thank the heavens, no, but it happens every now and then. There's so much dust and mold in the air, especially when one is wandering Eientei's halls. But fear not, ladies, I shall treat this affliction at once."

Aya laughed aloud, relief washing over her like a cool, soothing flood. "That's great."

"Let's go, Aya," Momiji said, tugging on her partner's sleeve. "We don't want to keep Miss Fujiwara waiting."

"Reisen will pull through, Miss Aya," said Eirin as she helped raise the rabbit to her feet. "She always has and always will. Nothing can keep Udongein down."

But Aya thought otherwise. Seeing Reisen's reddened cheeks, sweaty brow, and shaky disposition convinced Aya that the apprentice did not appear in good health. She was holding onto Eirin for dear life, a fear shining in her eyes that should she let go she would fall and return to a world of entropic agony.

Aya sighed and turned to go, but then she remembered she had almost forgotten to mention. "Eirin, do you know of a woman named Yukari Yakumo?"

There it was: a stiffening of the back, shoulders locked and muscles bunched in a rigid knot. A head of cascading silver slowly swiveled around, and Aya was met with a statue chiseled in the hardest stone.

A statue that bore twin pools of simmering crimson.

Aya's heart jolted.

"I might have," Eirin Yagokoro drawled lazily. "Why do you ask?"

Aya forced her voice to work. "…She sends you her regards. She said you'd be delighted to hear from an old friend."

Eirin's irises darkened several shades. "If you should see her again, do let her know I am glad to hear from her. I should hope the centuries have been treating her oh so kindly, as they have I."

"Goodbye, Eirin," said Momiji, staring Eirin in the eye. "May you have a wonderful summer's night." She took Aya by the arm and pulled her along. They did not look back.

* * *

"Do you understand now?" Momiji asked Aya as they were walking up Youkai Mountain. The scent of wet grass and sacred lotus hung thick in the twilight. "Eirin Yagokoro can't be trusted."

"She doesn't seem like the type of person who would say one thing and then say another in the same sentence," said Aya. "I don't understand why she's so defiant. I mean, you saw the picture yourself. She and Sakuya look almost exactly alike. It can't be mere coincidence."

"I find it just as odd as you do. The question is, what is the relation between them? And why was Eirin exiled?"

"It takes one to know one to another one, but I've got something fierce itching my poor being," complained Aya, scratching at the upper length of her right leg. "For Gods' sakes, mosquitoes should not be active this early in the year! Who do they think they are?"

"We _did_ just pass by the kappa water meadows," Momiji reminded her. "Besides, you don't have a tail like me. At least I can keep the nasty buggers at bay with a flick an' a twist."

"Very funny, dragon breath," Aya groused. "Wait, what the hell? I don't remember putting anything in my pockets."

"Maybe the mosquitoes wanted some blood that's a little sweeter. Like somewhere south of the equator."

"No, seriously, it feels like…I dunno, like I got a lump sticking out. Lemme see." Aya reached inside and dug out a partially crumpled ball of paper. "The heck did this get here?" She unfolded the sheet to a rectangle and turned it around.

She yelled, her eyes flying wide open.

"What? What is it?" Momiji asked. She peeked over Aya's shoulder and gasped. "…I don't believe it!"

It was the photograph of the four girls – the Watatsuki sisters, Eirin, and the Sakuya look-a-like – that was sitting on Eirin's desk. They were standing against a backdrop of tall white conical buildings and an endless ocean of glimmering stars, smiling and looking as if the world was alright. However, this picture was worn and faded with fold creases and tears along the edges.

"How did you get this without Eirin noticing?" asked Momiji.

"I didn't," Aya said quietly, still staring at the image.

"Wait. Something's attached to it." Momiji indicated to a black paperclip they didn't realize was there.

Wordlessly Aya took it off and unfolded a torn white sheet. In hurried, ink-spotted penmanship was this short message:

_Show this picture to the girl on the far left. It's time to stop playing games and get serious.  
_- _R.U.I._

"Wh-What's going on?" Aya asked aloud. She looked at the first pinprick of individual lights, shaken and so very, very lost. "What in Gensokyo is happening?"

* * *

Later that night, when the bamboo torches were lighted and the tables were cleaned of rice cakes and _sake_, the whole of Eientei gathered at the front courtyard and admired the full moon sitting in his bejeweled throne. Rabbits traded stories to their juniors and seniors, relating their roles and deeds in various wars and skirmishes over contested territory claimed by Earth's government. The Princess Kaguya Houraisan sat in _seiza_ position on the porch with Tewi Inaba and a couple cottontails and stared up at the silver diamond that was her first home and former birthright, basked in a soup of sleepy nostalgia.

And sitting in the dark, away from the mirth and laughter of the after-party, Eirin Yagokoro stared at a photograph whose scene was as familiar and intimate as the inner workings of her body. It was old, buried beneath piles of acquired knowledge and the golden dust of early memory, but she remembered that moment as if it had happened only yesterday. Strolling through the streets of Lunapolis, peering inside a number of stores with each window they passed; counting how many letters on a license plate this hovercraft had or how many passengers were driving in that hovercraft as they waited for the signal to change; kneeling at the sculpture of Endymion in Repose, praying to Selene safe travels as she made the journey over the Rainbow Bridge and beheld the youthful beauty of a man in eternal sleep.

She was always by her side, following close behind and never out of sight, holding her hand in slender white fingers in the soft, tender grip that made her feel safe and warm and so much at home.

She was always there.

But now….

Now….all that remained was that ancient ballad, a song made tribute by the men and rabbits that fought and bled for their world and loved their families with all their hearts, praising sweet Selestine o' mine….

Eirin squeezed her eyes shut. No, not again. She didn't want to hear that ballad again, never again, not while she still drew breath.

She opened her eyes, let her stare linger on the photograph a little while longer. Then she stood up, pushed her chair in, and set the picture frame face-down on the desk.


	9. IX: JOKER RED: Where Do You Belong?

**Disclaimer:** Any characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

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* * *

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**IX.  
**_JOKER RED: Where Do You Belong?_

In Eientei, Reisen lay in the coolness of the dark with a damp cloth on her forehead. She was recovering from the episode she had suffered when speaking with the crow and the wolf, though her tongue and glands still thrummed of the crushing torment. It felt as if someone had taken her by the neck and shoved her against the wall, squeezing the very life from her being.

Fingering the daisy-chain of bruises along her throat, she recalled that it hadn't been a dream, hadn't been a product of her imagination. No, once she had been hobbled inside and down the hall to the clinic, Eirin pounced and bared her fangs, dug her fingernails into carotid arteries and the hollow betwixt the collarbone, tranquil blues exploding in a tide of angry red.

_One word,_ the doctor growled in her face. _If I hear another word - nay, a syllable - from your mouth, I shall break you like the puppet you are. I shall rip the strings from your back and snap every articulate joint from your body. Do you understand? I saved your life; I can destroy it!_

Lady Kaguya discovered Reisen an hour later, the Princess so busy attending to last-minute preparation and welcoming the cavalcade escorted by Fujiwara no Mokou. But when the Lunarian did find her, panting for breath and eyes almost rolled in their sockets, her countenance was grim and languid as one who has seen many days in the desert, searching for water that was far and surely an illusion.

She had asked If Reisen was well enough to join her for the moon gazing, but Reisen, as much as she wanted to be at her master's side and share halves of _mochi_, declined. She needed to rest, needed silence…and time to think.

She should have known this was going to happen. Eirin was a sly fox, but even decades of peaceful solitude are wont to soften the hardest mind. She didn't think Eirin would get paranoid and trace their footsteps, thin and nonexistent as a silhouette of moonlight. But she did. She followed them out back, hid where they could not see her, and activated the seal – the seal that, by speaking of those harrowed years, rendered Reisen to a sickly, helpless shell.

Those two girls – the crow and the wolf – were her only hope of delivering the message. While she hadn't anticipated the turn in events, she had equipped herself with the necessary items just in case it did. When she asked Lady Kaguya if she could take the picture off the mantle, the Lunar Princess didn't hesitate to tell her this day had long been in the making. Forty years of playing charades and double lives was growing tiresome and, to Kaguya, too painful to bear any further.

Reisen curled an arm over her head and sighed, eyes growing heavy and out of focus. The next twenty-four eyes were going to be extremely crucial, not just on the part of the tengu but on the girl's reaction. Either she would go into a state of shock and not understand _why_, or she would refuse to listen to the cold hard facts. The possibility of demanding to speak to Eirin, however, was not out of the question. As for what came after that?

As she slowly drifted on an ephemeral dream, Reisen was too afraid to even conjure the thought.

* * *

The party was over. Eirin could hear tables being folded, doors opening and closing, footsteps fading in and out like the beating of her heart. She inhaled, and she exhaled, and her body thrummed with the leaden sack of lethargy.

She stared at the bottle in her hand, rotated the safety cap with her thumb. The word **_Kochoumugan_** jumped out at her in the moonlight streaming through the window.

A lump formed in her throat.

_"If there was a potion that would get rid of bad dreams, I would take it in an instant," said the younger. "Why do you think I stay up so late?"_

_"You still need your rest," said the elder, rolling onto her back. "You don't want your grades to slip."_

_"No, I don't, but the homework is so difficult. I keep asking myself why I bothered signing up for that class."_

_"We're Yagokoro; it's in our blood. There are many people whom expect us to follow in our parents' footsteps."_

_"But I have no interest in being a doctor, a scientist, or a scholar. I want to be a street performer like Cousin Yorohime."_

_"Yorohime only did it for a month. Besides, you'll need a permit from the government to perform, especially if you're going to set an act on private property."_

_"Then I'll be a politician, or a historian. It's the one subject I don't want to sleep through."_

_The elder smiled. "A politician, eh? That's hard to imagine."_

_"Whether you like it or not, I will be what I want to be. I won't let anyone or anything try to stop me."_

_"I admire your tenacity. Now, please, go back to bed."_

_"I don't want to."_

_"Sister," the elder sighed. "If you're that worried, pray to Endymion. He will help you get a good night's sleep."_

_"I know someone else who can help me."_

_"Oh? And who would that be? Mother and Father are asleep, and they have to work tomorrow."_

_"That doesn't mean I can't go to you." And with that declaration the younger threw herself onto the elder. The elder yelped and reflexively wrapped her arms round the younger, who buried her face in the elder's chest. "What are you—?"_

_"I don't need Mother or Father or Saint Endymion to banish my nightmares because I have you. You're my dream-catcher, and I…I wouldn't have it any other way. So, just for tonight, I want to be with you. I-If you don't mind, that is…." The younger mumbled this last part, almost shyly, and burrowed her head even further._

_The elder couldn't suppress the half-smile quirking her lips. She threaded her fingers through her sibling's mop of hair, affection pulsing with every stroke. "I suppose I'll allow it this one time. Close your eyes and relax. I'm right here." She lay her hand at the back of the younger's head, listened to the girl's breath grow slow and deep. "I always will be."_

Eirin blinked, and a single drop of water struck her hand.

She gaped at it, and the tears continued to fall.

She sniffed, swallowed through the lump in her throat, and dashed at her eyes with her sleeve.

No. Don't. No.

No. Don't. No.

No. Don't. No….

She popped the cap open, deposited the pills in her palm, and dry swallowed them. She slammed the bottle down on the nightstand.

Not again. Never again.

Eirin Yagokoro will never remember.

* * *

"Bloody hell….!"

Patchouli Knowledge signaled Koakuma to fetch another poultice, and the little succubus scurried along. When she returned with it, Patchouli approached the older vampire. "Is it still by your eyes?"

"By the Gods, I'm aching all over! My whole face is on fire and my head…it feels like it wants to pop! Ugh, Patchy…."

"Here," The librarian gently tilted her mistress's head back and eased the poultice over her eyes. "Rest yourself. Don't do it anymore. Relax your muscles and free your mind."

"Easy for you to say," Remilia Scarlet grumbled. "Why don't you knock me out, cut my head open and take a chunk of my brain while you're at it? Maybe I'll forget everything I've been doing. Maybe I'll forget how to do math or how to string coherent sentences."

"You will if you don't pull back. The metaphysical self must be given to recuperate until it can be properly projected again. You should know this by now, Milady. Physical pain should be the least of your concern."

"But I need to know," the vampire groaned, and she removed the poultice and looked at Patchouli with tired, bloodshot eyes. "I need to know what that swindler is hiding."

"Lady Remilia, please," Koakuma deplored. "You haven't slept in two days. Give your eyes a rest and let the fates be. I'm sure we'll learn why one of these days."

"I'm not giving up until I get those answers," Remilia snarled, pounding a fist on the armrest for emphasis. "It's one thing for us to give Sakuya a fake history and have her not realize it, but it's _another thing_ for us to _find_ a girl who knows the ins and outs but won't freaking _budge_ unless you're willing to pay the price with your life. What kind of messed up dichotomy is that? If I were with those two brats, I'd've beat that Rapunzel within an inch of her own!" Then she winced, and she put her head in her hands as she coiled into herself.

Patchouli sighed. "Well no amount of fighting is going to make you get any better. Now if you want to put an end to your suffering, I highly suggest you go to your room – in the dark – and catch those well-deserved winks. Unless you want me to drag you off that rocker and throw in the basement; Flandre hasn't seen her big sister in quite a long while…."

"NO!" the vampire yelled. "No, no, no! Lock me in the bathroom, toss me in the cellars, but _not_ in the basement! Please, I don't want to play Hide and Go _Kyuu_ when she's _kyuu_!"

Patchouli sighed and ran a hand down her face. Koakuma smiled and chuckled nervously. Remilia had a point; there was no telling if Flandre would be, well, _kyuu_ or not upon meeting her. She had the tendency to switch from one mood to the other in a matter of seconds, just like—

"What a coincidence! The elder desires to be with her younger, but lo! she dares not wake the beast which slumbers in eternal dark. I daresay, it almost reminds me of the good doctor when she was your age."

Remilia's head shot up. In the center of the room a thin black line appeared, and like a great whale opening its jaws the gap widened to an ovular shape. A familiar blonde-haired woman stepped through the gap, which closed behind her and reconstructed itself. She tapped the end of a pink parasol on the floor and beamed a smile at the three ladies. "Wonderful evening, isn't it? The perfect setting for a full moon."

"How much did you hear?" demanded Remilia.

"All of it, my fair lady. Why I came here straight away the minute Miss Aya and Miss Momiji parted for the House of Eternity. That was three, no, four hours ago."

"And you two didn't sense her?" Remilia raged, baring her fangs at Patchouli and Koakuma.

Patchouli winced. "Milady, I wasn't even _aware_ she was here. You must understand, a youkai of her caliber is capable of—"

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT CALIBER!"

"But Lady Remilia—" Koakuma tried to say.

"No one is supposed to know how Sakuya came here! There's only one other person in Gensokyo who was there that night and she probably drank herself into a stupor! Every able-bodied person outside this mansion should be blissfully fucking ignorant!"

"Ah, but my dear, I am far more learned than you think I am," said Yukari Yakumo. "I know who the real Eirin Yagokoro is. I know what secrets she locks behind her heart."

"And how do you know? You're a lazy good-for-nothing! What, did you wake up one morning and seek the git out yourself? Did you ask her?"

"On the contrary; I used my Gaps to go to the past. Mind you, I may be a youkai of borders but I am far from a saboteur of events."

"Then you must know what Eirin will do to those who try to divulge those secrets," said Patchouli.

Yukari shrugged. "A stubborn girl through and through, that Eirin is. I'm not surprised she acts this way, for she has always been one to persist until the end. Although…" she trailed off, looking up thoughtfully.

"Although…?" Remilia echoed.

"Recently, I have come to wonder about Sakuya. She is, as you put it, 'blissfully ignorant'. Has she not given it voice the reason of her sanity? As you are all well aware, no human can gaze upon a full moon without losing his grip on reality. Surely she has beheld it on more than one occasion. Is that not so, Lady Remilia?"

Remilia continued to stare at the Youkai of Borders.

Koakuma turned to Patchouli, who grimaced and looked away.

"Has she not asked you?" Lady Yukari asked again, words measured and without feeling.

Remilia clenched the armrests, fingers clawing the velvet material from their stapling. Her lips quirked downward, her eyes lowered.

Lady Yukari stared.

"…Yes, she has," the vampire finally relented. "She's asked me so many times I've lost count. But I thought she was an exception," she added, whipping her head to the border youkai. "I thought she was a youkai, just like us – I dunno what kind, but a youkai nonetheless. But Patchy here, she kept reminding me she couldn't be a youkai, she doesn't show a lick of any trait that associates a youkai; 'cause if she was a youkai she wouldn't have to use that pocket-watch to stop time or make it go fast-forward at her own whim."

Yukari nodded solemnly. "Indeed. A youkai is either born with abilities or evolves into sentiency and gains abilities according to its race and evolution. And pray tell, ladies of the Scarlet Devil," she looked at both Patchouli and Koakuma, "but to the best of my knowledge there has never been a youkai in Gensokyo who could control time until little Sakuya arrived, am I right?"

"None that we know of," said Koakuma.

"In the century since we migrated over the Border, I can tell you know I've never encountered such an ability," Patchouli clarified. "It's the stuff of legends, like immortality or…being in two places at the same time."

Yukari smirked. "It's something I take great pride in."

"Cut to the chase, you old bat!" Remilia said sharply, pounding the armrest again. "So there are some things youkai don't normally possess, big deal! Just tell us what controlling time and all that Greek stuff has to do with Sakuya and Eirin!"

"Then let's start from the very beginning," said Yukari Yakumo. "You already know how the rest of this story pans out. It's only right I fill in the blanks."

"We're listening," said Remilia Scarlet.

Yukari smiled, her eyes softening. "I'm glad you understand. Now, allow me to go back one thousand years ago, long before the Hakurei Border was established…."

* * *

Outside the Scarlet Devil Mansion, alone and removed from the residents readying for bed, Sakuya Izayoi continued to stare at the full moon, eyes unblinking and irises as red as wine.

Why? What made her different from other humans? There were stories of people who were driven to insanity because they gazed upon the full moon, that only youkai were immune to its effects. So why, _why_, could she get away with it? Was she not the same as everyone else?

Every time, every chance she had, she looked to the full moon, strange things happened. She saw things, heard things, as if they were clear and in front of her. She could _see herself_, running, fighting, hiding from beasts unknown and terrible. And her clothes, they were different – not the maid outfit she wore during her duties, but a red-and-blue petticoat and pair of breeches. Sakuya had only seen pictures of petticoats and breeches in Patchouli's books, and she had never come across a person who dressed in such clothing.

But were these visions even real? Were they side-effects to gazing at the moon, round and full as it appeared every month? Perhaps, she thought suddenly and with dread fondling her heart, she was already insane and not made aware of it until now. Except, if she was truly mad, would she not know of her condition? Could an insane person be conscious of his own deterioration?

No, she couldn't be insane. She felt right in her mind, right in her actions. No one had ever called her insane or mad or crazy.

So why was this happening to her?

Sakuya sighed and turned away. She didn't want to think anymore of it for the rest of the night. If she continued, she would be unable to sleep; or, if she did sleep, she may suffer from dreams that were just as unpredictable as the visions that played in her head.

In the end she put her back to the moon and walked the path to the mansion, weary of the countless questions floating through her head.

So as she passed through the gate, Sakuya missed the worry on Hong Meiling's face.


	10. X: Blue Eyed Jezebel 2

**Disclaimer:** Any characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**X.  
**_Blue-Eyed Jezebel 2: Covered Mirrors_

"Aya," Momiji groaned as she rolled on her side, "are you still awake?"

"I can't sleep," the crow tengu said. She lay in her bed opposite the wolf-girl, under the covers and arms behind her head, piercing the ceiling with ruby irises.

"It's three-thirty in the morning. We're opening with Hatate in a couple hours. Get some rest."

As much as her body insisted on it, Aya couldn't find the incentive to sleep. Her mind was ablaze with questions and speculations, buzzing around her brain as if it were a fly zapper. She wanted to look at that picture again, capture every detail, absorb the colors, memorize the quartet of faces smiling for the camera; except Momiji snatched it from her, told her to stop fretting, concentrate when they do go to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

But Aya did not want to wait. She wanted to go now, drag Momiji out of bed, hit the skies and crash the mansion. She wanted to wake the world, wake Sakuya, shove the photograph in her face and say to her, "You're from the Moon! You have a relative who lives in Gensokyo, relatives who may or may not be still on the Moon! _This_ is who you are, Sakuya!"

Yet where was the proof? What else Aya did have to back it up besides a tattered photograph and the words of a woman who could be lying through her teeth? Reisen told her she was with Eirin when the doctor was exiled forty years ago, that she was somehow connected to this Emergence of Apollo which had rattled the Lunarian government. Reisen seemed to know much more than Eirin was letting on, but again what could Aya prove with mere words?

Aya faced the wall and sighed. There was no point thinking about it, because Momiji wasn't going to fork over the photograph any time soon. What good was there hiding the evidence? What good did it do to refrain from telling the truth?

Or rather, as it dawned on her like a final knell, how far would a person go to protect the truth from coming out?

* * *

Hours later, with the morning dew coating thick layers on the grass, they met with Hatate and unlocked the doors to Bunbunmaru. They refilled the ink containers and ran the color printers. They turned on the dispatch system and tested the frequencies from room to room. They opened the depository, collected the papers and reports and placed separate piles on each of their desks. The hour flew by and the sun climbed over the mountains, and it was as they were finished sorting that the number of workers started trickling in.

When everyone was situated at their stations and brought the office to life, Hatate put down the fountain pen she was writing with and said, "So, what have you two found yesterday? Anything new about the Moon?"

Aya's looked up, startled, her own pen nearly darting off the line of the form. "Wh-What?"

"What's the matter with you, Shameimaru?" Hatate asked a little too haughtily. "Why so spacey? Is this One Big Scoop already getting too big for you?"

Aya furrowed her brow. "No, of course not! It's just that, well, a lot happened yesterday and, umm…."

"A lot, eh? What have you got?"

"We have a photo given to us by an interviewee," said Momiji. She reached inside her blouse and pulled out the picture, which she handed to Hatate. Aya opened her mouth to protest, but Momiji cut her off by saying, "Take a good look at it. Those two girls on the left, do they look alike to you?"

Hatate hummed, rubbed her chin with a curious hand. She could see Aya sneaking a peek over her shoulder at the corner of her eye, but she ignored it. After a minute the pig-tailed tengu said, "Yeah, they do. They look like sisters. But I've never seen buildings like these before. Is this really the Moon?"

"I doubt even the kappa can recreate something of this majesty," said Aya. "It has to be made from metal, but where would they get it?"

"This was attached to the photograph," Momiji said as she passed the scrap over. "R.U.I., or Reisen Udongein Inaba, is our interviewee."

Hatate studied it. "Ho-hum, ho-hum, what do we have here? Hmm, _'Give this to the girl on the far left…time to stop playing games…get serious.'_ Huh." She glanced at Aya and Momiji. "Did something happen?"

"Like I said, a lot went on while we were out," Aya told her colleague honestly, though her mood sobered considerably. To Hatate, it appeared as if she were troubled.

"Do you mind if you lend us a few minutes of our work time?" inquired Momiji, her tail twitching restlessly behind the chair.

Hatate didn't know what to make of it. The air around them suddenly felt so tense and so thick one would not be able to slice through it so easily. "Sure. Just…don't leave anything out. After all, this is your One Big Scoop."

So Aya and Momiji explained in full detail their day across Gensokyo. They told Hatate of the kappa's attempts to recreate the Other Side's flying inventions; of Nitori's book on the history of NASA and the missions they undertook to the Moon; of the failed attack Yukari Yakumo waged against the Lunarians in the days before the Border; of the differing accounts that conflicted with Eirin's arrival – or alleged exile – to Earth from both the doctor and Reisen Udongein; of the abrupt changes in Eirin's mood whenever Sakuya was mentioned; of Reisen's episode behind the House of Eternity and the note she had placed in Aya's skirt before they left.

Hatate did not interrupt throughout the entire exchange. She nodded in the right places and hummed at the moment of revelations. However, she was frowning when the pair had concluded their findings. "It doesn't make sense. Why is Miss Yagokoro going through all the trouble to silence Miss Reisen?"

"Eirin didn't do anything of the sort," argued Aya. "She came to us _after_ Reisen fell ill."

"That may be true, but who's to say she wanted to keep her quiet? Eirin's demeanor changed when you brought up Sakuya and Yukari Yakumo's names: once when you looked at the picture frame, and once after Reisen had her attack. The instant you said their names, Eirin went from nice to _too nice_."

"But she didn't have any weapons on her. How could she have attacked without alerting anyone?"

"You don't have to be direct in order to take down an enemy. A person can lay the trap and wait for that perfect moment to trigger the failsafe. There's more to instigate trouble than just _danmaku_ and spell cards. Remember the Saigyou Ayakashi, how it would steal the souls of those who would lie amidst the shade."

"The question is," said Momiji, "what did Eirin use to attack Reisen?"

"This is preposterous!" exclaimed Aya, glancing back and forth between Momiji and Hatate. "I didn't see anything in Eirin's hands that would cause Reisen to react that way! Hell, maybe Reisen had an allergic reaction or something. Eirin _did_ say there's a lot of dust and mold in Eientei."

"Don't tell me she's already got you wrapped around her finger," said Momiji, a tad disappointed.

"Don't tell _me_ you believe in unfounded speculation!" countered Aya.

"Aya, a trap could have already been laid before either of you arrived," said Hatate. "And again you're right to say this is all unfounded speculation, but don't you think this needs to be followed up more? For whatever reason, Miss Yagokoro is hiding the cold hard facts. She could be leading you astray with false truths or half-truths, I don't know, but I do _know_ there are pieces missing to the puzzle."

"So what do you expect us to do?" asked Aya. "If you're about all this and we go back to Eientei, Eirin will target us. Is that what you want?"

"You could do that, but there's no telling what will happen if she does attack." Hatate leaned back and sighed. "As much as we bicker and argue, the last thing I want is for you to get hurt. You may be armed with a _hauchiwa_ or sword and shield, but aside from what was learned you don't know next to nothing about Eirin. She may or may not use _danmaku_; she might use something we have never documented or seen before."

"Then that leaves us with the Scarlet Devil Mansion," Momiji concluded. "Do you have a map, Hatate?"

"Yeah, let me get it." Hatate reached behind her with an arm, pulled open a drawer in the desk and ruffled through it. "Here," she said a moment later. "Don't forget the photo and note, too." She gave the scrolled map to Momiji and the photo and attached note to Aya. "Be careful, okay? Keep your eyes open at all times."

Aya scoffed, though there was little feeling to support it. "Nothing bad is going to happen. We're tengu, we can dodge anything. C'mon, Momiji, no time to waste."

* * *

But even as Hatate was left to her devices and divulged in her work, she couldn't help but worry for Aya Shameimaru. Between the two of them, Momiji was the more rational and open-minded. Although Aya could be professional when the situation called for it, she was passionate in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, this passion almost always led her to lose sight of her goal and diverge into a different spectrum that was unrelated to said purpose.

Her goal was a woman by the name of Eirin Yagokoro, but her purpose in the spectrum was to prove Eirin Yagokoro was not the kind of person who would lie and hunt her prey to the point of sowing unwanted seeds in a fallow mind.

Sometimes those seeds grew into trees, and sometimes tree bore fruit, fruit too sweet and too bitter to chew and swallow.

Aya may have already plucked the first of the harvest, and Hatate feared for her.

* * *

They landed outside the premises of the Scarlet Devil Mansion a couple hours later, treading the dirt road leading away from rolling fog and cloud which marked as a border to the Misty Lake, home of the fairies. Most of the time was spent in silence, but they spoke in clipped tones, trying to formulate a proper course of action that would allow them into Lady Remilia Scarlet's good graces and speak with Sakuya. Perhaps Lady Scarlet would grant their request from the get-go, or maybe chase them off the property with a slew of tengu-hungry youkai, who knew. Aside from wanting to build a ship to the Moon, Sakuya had never mentioned what her mistress was like, so both crow and wolf decided it would be best to take as professional an approach as possible when meeting the head of the manor.

Several minutes went by. They approached a grove of trees that were evenly parted on both sides of the path. Farther up ahead it branched off in twin curves hugging massive brick walls and stone pillars that stretched high into the sky. A metal gate gleamed between the outer walls of the mansion.

"I wonder how long it took them to build this place?" Aya asked aloud. "It's so big~"

"You think everything is big when you're not flying," said Momiji. "But anyway, we're here. Don't do anything that's going to jeopardize this scoop."

"I might as well not be breathing, then."

"You know what I mean."

They crossed the distance and stopped in front of the gate. Leaning next to it against the wall was a tall red-haired girl in green tabard and loose white pants. Her arms were folded under her bosom and her chin bowed, the beret on her head slipped over her eyes. From her was the faint sound of snoring.

"Huh, would you look at that," said Momiji as she stood in front of the girl. "I don't think I've ever seen a guard asleep on the job before."

"That's good," said Aya. "We can sneak inside."

"What did I just tell you ten minutes ago, moron?"

Aya rubbed the back of her neck, chuckling. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Let's just wake her up and ask her to let us in."

Momiji nodded, then lifted a hand and shook the girl by the shoulder. "Excuse me, miss? Wake up, miss, you have visitors. Wake up. Hey." The girl snored on.

"You're being too docile, Momiji," said Aya. "Here, step aside and let a real master show you how it's done." Momiji scowled, but she stepped aside. Aya positioned herself directly in front of the red-haired girl, shoulders back, legs apart, arms akimbo. Then she took a deep breath, leaned back, lunged forward like a spring and shouted: "OI! WAKE THE HELL UP! THE WORLD IS ENDING AND THERE ARE BLACK HANDS POPPING OUT OF THE GROUND! THE SKY IS RED, GHOSTS ARE FLYING THROUGH THE AIR, AND ONE-EYED ELDRITCH ABOMINATIONS RUN BACK AND FORTH AMONG THE TWISTING BRAMBLES! YOU BETTER COLLECT ALL THE GEMS OR ELSE!"

"…What in Sojobo's name are you rambling about?" Momiji asked with the most confounded look.

Aya shrugged. "I dunno, but I figured it would give her a shock. Guess not." She looked at the girl, and still the girl snored on. "Say, what if I tried slapping her?"

"No, Aya."

"What about tickling her? I can pluck a feather from my wing and dust her nose."

"_No_, Aya."

"What do you want me to do? I'm being nice here!"

"Well if shaking her and yelling in her face don't work, we should just wait for her to wake up."

"That could take hours! I don't want to wait all day for answers!"

"I can wake her up~" sang a high, childish voice. Aya and Momiji snapped their attention to the source above their heads. A girl sat cross-legged on the pillar the guard was leaning on, hands wrung in their laps and her body rocking forward and backward. A pair of unusual wings twitched lazily behind her, for instead of membranes there were six crystals, each one a different color and glimmering in the sun like a rainbow. The girl smiled down on them. "Hello, neighbors~"

"Hey there, kiddo," said Aya, tipping her hat to the girl. "Whatcha doin' hanging up there? If you keep swaying like that, you're gonna fall."

"That's okay," said the girl. "I can fly. I haven't flown in a long time~"

"That must suck, doesn't it?"

"I like to suck the film off eyeballs…or was it the strawberry jelly off toast? I can't tell, they both taste the same."

Aya blanched. "Wait, _what_?"

"What about what?" the girl countered innocently.

"_Anyway_," Momiji interjected. "What's your name?"

"Flandre. Who are you?"

"I'm Momiji. This is my partner, Aya."

"Momiji~" the girl rolled the name off her tongue. "Aya~"

"Yeah, those are our names," said Aya.

"Momiji-ji-ji-ji-ji-ji-ji-ji~ Aya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya-ya~"

"Yeah…." Aya scratched her cheek.

Momiji shifted from one foot to the other, looked to the left, looked to the right.

"You make my teeth itch~" said Flandre.

"I'm sorry," said Momiji.

"Can I chew on you?"

"Um, no, you can't. Sorry."

"No, I am. You see, I never had dog before. I hear it's quite a delicacy."

Momiji's tail tucked itself between her legs.

"Dear Jesus God in Heaven," Aya murmured incredulously, but she cleared her throat and said as steadily as she could, "Say, um, Flandre, we came here to talk to Sakuya, one of the maids who work for Remilia Scarlet. You think you can go inside and ask Lady Scarlet if it's okay to let us through?"

Flandre's wings perked up. "Oh, you know Sakuya and big sis?"

"_Big sis_? _Remilia_?"

"Yes, yes, I didn't know you knew big sis. She didn't say anything about you, but Sakuya talks about you. Just a little bit – not a centimeter, not a millimeter, but an inch. That's not so bad, but that's all."

"So, uh, what d'you say? Will you talk to Lady Remilia for us?"

"Mmmmm…no."

"What? Why not?" Aya blurted. "You're not doing anything!"

"I know," said Flandre, "but I'll get caught if I go back inside, and big sis will be very mad if she sees me. So no, I will not ask for you."

"Oh, come on! What did you do to piss her off?"

"Aya, settle down!" Momiji whispered harshly.

"My room is in the basement," Flandre told the girls, obviously ignoring Aya's outburst. "It's pretty big, but I was getting restless pacing the floor and counting the tiles on the ceiling day after day. I was looking through some old books Patchy gave to me, and I found this magazine called _Tumblers Today_. It's supposed to be about picking locks, and there are a lot of locks on the door. So I tried to pick them, but I must have done something wrong because I broke the locks in half, but that's okay because I got to stretch my wings and fly figure-eights over everyone's heads."

"Why do you live in the basement, anyway?" Momiji asked, truly curious.

Flandre's smile widened. "Because everybody says I'm just plain crazy…or maybe _they're_ the ones who are crazy. Sanity, insanity, what's the difference?"

"Just let us in already," Aya said exasperatedly.

"Do I look stupid? I said I'm not going to—"

"For the love of Sojobo!"

"Aya, please!"

"But I said I'd wake her up, remember~?"

"Eh?" Both girls saw Flandre pointing down at the sleeping gate guard. "You can?" they asked simultaneously.

Flandre's mouth opened to expose a wild, happy grin. "I can. I can wake up Meiling for you~ It's very easy~"

"How?"

"Like this." The girl grabbed part of the wall on her side and, with a jerk of her arms, tore a brick from the masonry. She took it in both hands and lifted it above her head.

"What are you doing?" Aya shrieked.

"I'm going to wake Meiling up," said Flandre. "That's what you want, right?"

"Dropping a brick on her isn't the way to do it!" Momiji cried. "You'll hurt her!"

Flandre shrugged. "Meiling's had knives thrown at her. A brick should be the least of her worries."

"Think of the repercussions!"

"I don't need repercussions…or is it leopard cushions? Oh well, it doesn't matter." Flandre let go of the brick. "Whoops~"

**_CRACK!_** went the brick, and upon impact it split in two and fell to the ground.

Aya and Momiji nearly screamed, but their new acquaintance, the gate guard Meiling, beat them by hitting the dirt and yelling: "Please don't hurt me, Sakuya! Have mercy! Eh? Where am I?" She blinked rapidly and glanced around, then turned her head and saw two pairs of feet in front of her. "What the…?" She raised her gaze, meeting Aya and Momiji's shocked eyes. "Oh…hello there. What's with those faces? You look like you witnessed something terrible."

"Jiji and Yaya wanted to come inside, Meiling, but you were asleep," said Flandre, hands again in her lap and wings flapping to and fro. "They couldn't wake you up, so I helped them~"

"Jiji? Yaya?" Meiling glanced at the crow and wolf tengu. Then, "Wait…Flandre, what are you doing outside?"

"YOUNG MISTRESS!" called an angry, rasping voice. Meiling picked herself up and with Aya and Momiji they looked beyond the gate and saw a purple-haired girl sprinting toward them. Her head was bent and she emitted a dry, wheezing rattle. "How…how dare you…elude my grasp! Just wait…wait until I…I…by the Gods…." She stopped, doubled over, and hacked some more.

"I see you were having your routine nap again, Meiling," said another, calmer voice. Sakuya Izayoi strode passed the ailing girl and halted between the gate and the pillar which Flandre Scarlet sat on. "Care to explain what is going on?"

"I would if I could," said Meiling, "but I think you should ask these fellows here. They saw more than me!"

"Sakuya!" said Aya, brightening at the sight of the blue-eyed maid. "You remember us, right? Aya and Momiji, the ones who were at Miss Kirisame's house, or what was left of it!"

"It's only been two days, but yes I do remember you both," said Sakuya. "If Meiling is incapable of providing a summary, perhaps you can do better."

"We want to talk to you," said Momiji, "but the gates are closed. We tried to wake Miss Meiling from her slumber, but Flandre…well…."

"She dropped a brick. On her head," Aya concluded. "It hurt."

"I've had worse," Meiling assured her.

"And I should like to give you worse for the trouble you have left to these girls," warned Sakuya, "but I will let this slip once. Miss Inubashiri, you say you wish to speak with me?"

"Yes, it's very important."

"Well, if Milady grants you permission, then—"

"I…I don't mean to interrupt, Sakuya," the violet-haired girl who had yelled at Flandre earlier wheezed, "but Remi said she's been expecting them."

"I don't recall her saying so."

"Don't worry about that. Here, take 'em inside. Meiling, you go with them and clean up, you got blood running down your face. As for you, young Flandre, cease your gargoyle imitation and come with me. I'm putting you in a separate room until the locks are replaced and reinforced."

"Can I bring _Tumblers Today_ with me, Patchouli~?" asked Flandre Scarlet.

Patchouli's cheeks flushed cherry red. "No, you may not! God's blood, I made a mistake…giving it to you. I'm going…to make sure…I burn...every single copy…I can find in the library. Oh, where's my inhaler…when I need it?"

"Allow me to escort you," said Sakuya to Aya and Momiji. She unlocked the gates and closed it behind them. "Meiling, you best do as Patchouli says. Patchouli, where does Milady want these two?"

"She said the main dining hall. She should still be there."

"Then we shall go there. Miss Shameimaru, Miss Inubashiri, please follow me."

"Farewell, neighbors~" said Flandre as she watched over her shoulder the tengu leave. "Until we meet again. Say hello to big sis for me~"

"We will," said Aya, who gave the younger girl a warm smile. However, once they were climbing the steps to the mansion's entrance, she said to Sakuya, "_How_ can you put up with _her_?"

"Flandre is Flandre. Interacting with her is like playing a game of chance, and it would seem your chances were in your favor."

"Has she always been that way?" asked Momiji.

"Milady has mentioned once that she was not so. Many a century ago, she was just like you and me, but time has broken her in more ways than you can imagine. Nonetheless, that is a different story for a different time. You are here to speak to me. Once we are seated, you will have my full undivided attention."


	11. XI: Blue Eyed Jezebel 3

**Disclaimer:** All characters and locations belong to their respective owners. OCs and locations not recognized in the fandom belong to me.

_A/N: Long chapter is long for a reason. You'll know why~_

* * *

**XI.  
**_Blue-Eyed Jezebel 3: LIVE A LIE DIE A LIE_

"They're coming this way," Yukari Yakumo said as she sipped from the teacup.

Remilia made a noncommittal sound, nodded. "I know," she said quietly.

"Are you going to run?"

"No."

"Will you cry?"

"…I don't know."

"It's okay if you do. She's lived here for a very long time. That's nothing to be ashamed of."

"I…I know, but…." She clenched and unclenched her fists, breathed heavily through her nose. The reflection in her cup wavered. "I can't send her off like that. To be so sudden, right out of the blue…can you imagine what that would be like to her?"

Yukari sipped again, peered at the vampire over the rim. "She will grow from it, or she will suffer…just like Eirin is."

"Eirin," murmured Remilia. "The one who caused it all."

"And the one who can end it all," Yukari included, swirling the liquid round and around. "Their reunion will only be the beginning."

"What comes after that?"

"I do not know. Even if I were to use my ability to travel to the future, I could not tell you. Nothing is for certain when it comes to the unknown. For each and every action, there is always a consequence."

"And the consequences for what will happen…they are…?"

"My dear, that is for them to know and us to find out."

"What about the other two? Is it right to drag them into this?"

"I'm afraid it's too late to stop them, but they are good people. Little Sakuya is going to need the support; as will Eirin, if her heart will allow it."

Remilia exhaled, the tea rippling in spreading spherical waves.

"You can still call it off, Miss Remilia. You can have Sakuya turn the other way. Just say the word, and she will show those girls the door."

"I know."

"It's up to you, but you don't have much time. Once they cross the threshold, there's no turning back."

"I know."

"Will you…or will you not?"

Remilia stared into her cup, face unreadable but eyes gripped with a diamond toughness threatening to break, threatening to crumble and blow away in the wind. To the common person, it would seem the world ceased to exist for this old vampire. However, for one who was as wise and ancient as Yukari Yakumo, the apocalypse was on the horizon, looming like an ominous storm on an otherwise sunny day.

The doors at the end of the chamber started to creak outward.

Remilia Scarlet straightened up. "You," she said sharply to a passing fairy. "Give my guest a refill. Don't just stand there, come hither and do as I command you." The fairy nodded wordlessly and poured steaming amber-brown liquid from the kettle.

Yukari Yakumo sent her a rueful smile, then thanked the fairy and put the cup to her lips.

The doors opened.

* * *

"Milady, I have returned," Sakuya Izayoi announced upon entering.

The dining hall was a large, spacious chamber, abuzz with the paper-thin clapping of fairy wings as they fluttered to and fro from station to station. Rows of candelabras and a magnificent crystal chandelier suspended above a series of round tables decked in fine linen cloth and exquisite cutlery. At one of these tables close to the entrance sat two ladies – one whom Aya and Momiji recognized as Yukari Yakumo, and the other a younger girl with the sharp nose and bony frame of regality, elbows on the surface and fingers steepled at her chin.

Sanguine irises flitted to the maid and the tengu at her side, slit pupils dilating with the turn of her head. "Ah, it took you long enough, Sakuya. Did you find Flandre yet?"

"Lady Flandre has been incapacitated by Patchouli. She will not be causing any more trouble."

"Good to know. Come on over, I want to have a look at these friends of yours." She gestured them with a bob of her head.

Sakuya escorted Aya and Momiji to the table. The girl appraised the pair with an offhanded scrutiny, eyeing them up and down as if she were judging their worth. "Hmmm, yes, they're a pretty lot, alright. Not too soft, not too hard; they must be taking great care of themselves. I wonder if the same applies to danger."

"Pardon my intrusion, ma'am," said Aya, "but…do you happen to be Remilia Scarlet, Lady of the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

The girl's gaze fell upon her, and for a brief moment Aya wondered if she should have waited until she had been asked to do so. She braced herself for the scolding, but instead, and to her great surprise, the girl smirked. "Truer words have never been spoken," said she. "Indeed, _I_ am Lady Remilia Scarlet. I have ruled this manor for many years, feared, loved, and hated by human and youkai alike. Some call me child, others blood-sucker, but most if not all know me as the devil in disguise, and you would do well to remember I am not one to be trifled with."

"Oh, but you hardly ever go out, Remi~" Yukari chirped through a sugar cookie she was nibbling on. "How can you say you're powerful if you don't breathe the fresh air?

A tic throbbed between Remilia's eyes. "Because, granny, I am sensitive to sunlight. And when I come into contact with said sunlight, my skin boils over like the goddamn plague!"

"Not unless you're a blueblood~"

"You know how rare those buggers are. When was the last time I ever crossed paths with such a person?"

"Miss Remilia," began Momiji.

"That's _Lady_ Remilia to you," the Scarlet Devil growled.

"Ah, excuse my manners, then. _Lady_ Remilia, my colleague and I request permission to speak with your servant, Miss Sakuya, regarding information we've obtained that may concern your trip to the Moon."

Remilia scoffed. "What trip? There is no trip! Those pieces Sakuya brought back, wherever she got them, they're worth squat. Patchouli, our librarian, she tells me we would need a helluva lot more than cables and DVD players to build a rocket ship. And the time it would take to begin from point A to point B…it's too much trouble, so we scrapped the project altogether."

"Our apologies, Lady Remilia," said Aya. "What will you do now?"

"What everybody else has been doing these past two days: get over it and move on. There's nothing more we can do."

"Remilia," said Yukari, nudging the vampire in the ribs.

"Ah, yes, that's right. You said you want to talk to Sakuya. About the Moon." Remilia cleared her throat. "Ahem, as the ruling head of Scarlet Devil Mansion, I grant your request. Now join us, have yourself a bite. Don't give me that look, you know you want it. Sugar cannot be denied."

"Remilia~" Yukari whined, probing the older Scarlet harder with her elbow.

"Alright, alright!" Remilia complained, swatting the youkai away. "Sakuya, you're off for the rest of the day. I want you to sit next to me."

"But Milady, there is much to be done—"

"That's an order, Sakuya. You two – Aya and Momiji, right? – sit and be merry. Eat and drink to your heart's content. And you, _grandma_, get your elbow out of my spleen!" Yukari groaned and retracted her limb, looking crushed and defeated like a wounded puppy.

So they sat among the Youkai of Borders and the Scarlet Devil. For a while they were indulged in casual conversation, discussing the weather ("It's too bright for Milady to take her afternoon stroll," said Sakuya.), the hi-jinks that erupted from Misty Lake earlier today ("The fog's only thicker than usual because that idiot fairy kept blasting some new ice cannon she made!" Remilia complained.), the latest merchandise Rinnosuke Morichika had to offer on his trade routes, on the origin of the Scarlet Devil Mansion ("Our family was very influential in the Outside World," she told the tengu. "Of course, when we were turned on the eve of the flu, everything went belly-up."), and the reason behind Yukari Yakumo's visit ("Nothing wrong with seeing a friend, dears," she said. "I _do_ like to get out every now and then, just…only when I feel like it.")

Their talk had lasted a good hour and a half, but eventually Aya and Momiji brought up the subject of their being here. Even Yukari had set aside her refilled cup of tea and suggested to Remilia that they listen. The Scarlet Devil relented, albeit reluctantly, almost hesitantly. This did not go amiss by Sakuya, who glanced at her mistress before turning her attention to the crow and wolf.

"What did you want to speak to me about?" Sakuya asked. "You are already aware that we do not have the means to travel to the Moon."

"_That's_ when we took matters into our own hands," said Aya. "You got Momiji and I thinking about the Moon, so we went out the next day and asked a few people we believed might have the answers. One of which we asked was Miss Yukari. She told us that the Moon is inhabited by a race of humans called Lunarians, whose technology is superior to ours here on Earth. Now I didn't believe her at first—OOF!" She glared at Momiji's retreating elbow. "But, uh, regardless of personal opinion, she directed us to someone who was much more knowledgeable in that field. That someone was Doctor Eirin Yagokoro, a woman who lives deep within the Bamboo Forest of the Lost in an area called Eientei. Does it ring a bell, by any chance?"

"No, it doesn't," said Remilia, "but carry on. What did this Eirin character tell you?"

"She said she was a Lunarian," said Momiji. "She said that Lunarians like her live far longer than humans and that there are those who are said to live forever."

"How old is she?"

"According to her, she is two-thousand years old."

Remilia gave an ironic smile. "Just like the man on the cross."

"Well, yes, but beside the point, she explained a great many things to us. She tells us she was an important figure during the founding of Lunarian civilization, and that throughout her life paved the path towards modernization. She left the Moon forty years ago to offer her services among the peoples of Earth, only to be rejected when they learned she did not share the same lifespan as they did. It was because of that she stumbled upon a, what was it, _tear in physical reality_, and ended up in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. With the help of a local resident she was able to find Eientei, and she's been living there among the rabbitfolk ever since."

"What proof do you have? How do I know you're not making this all up?"

"We took notes during the interview," said Aya. "Take a look." She offered the Bunkachou to Remilia, who opened the book and skimmed through it.

"Hmph, you did your research alright," she said. "Anything else?"

"That was about it."

"I don't understand," said Sakuya, who had remained silent throughout the conversation. "What does your investigation have to do with me?"

Aya rubbed her shoulder, shot a glance at Momiji."Well, this is where it gets, um, a little complicated. We were about to leave when we were confronted by an acquaintance of Doctor Eirin's, a Moonborn rabbit named Reisen. She told us she and Eirin were _exiled_ to Eientei. She was going to say more…I don't know how I should word this, but…."

"We believe Eirin Yagokoro attacked Reisen," Momij finished for Aya. "I'm just as confused as Aya, but something made Reisen seize up during mid-sentence. I was going to go fetch Doctor Eirin, but she came around the corner…almost as if she were walking right behind us."

"I mentioned you to Eirin, Miss Yukari," said Aya. "The look she gave me would have struck me dead on the spot."

Yukari let slip a tiny smile, picked up the teacup, took a sip. "That bad, huh? I would figure that much."

"You still haven't told me how I'm involved," Sakuya repeated, and although she took great pains to hide it a hint of impatience was creeping in her tone. "I want to know."

"Sakuya," Remilia began, but a hand touched her shoulder. She whirled around, and saw it was Yukari Yakumo, her face ever calm.

"And know you will," said Aya. "When we were on our way back to Youkai Mountain, I found this in my skirt. Reisen must have somehow placed it there when I wasn't looking." She retrieved a folded scrap of paper from her blouse and held it out.

Sakuya took the paper and unfolded it. It was a photograph, complete with the wear and tear of ages past. In the picture were four girls posing against a backdrop of tall sharp angular buildings standing amidst a star-studded sky unlike any she had ever seen. Each of the girls appeared to be happy in each other's presence, be it through shining eyes, lazy smiles, or the hand which curled around the pale stalks of another's longer fingers.

At first Sakuya didn't understand what importance the photo instilled, but then her eyes strayed and stopped on the pair on the left. Sapphire irises studied the similarities they shared – eyes the color of eventide; the delicate slope of silver tresses; high cheekbones and sharp chins.

She stared harder. Something in her mind cried to come loose, fought to free itself from a self-imposed prison. If she could probe just a little bit deeper—

_"—You're not going to fit in the picture if you're standing all the way over there," says Yorihime. "Come by me."_

_"Oh, let Selestine stay next to Eirin," Toyohime says, giggling at the younger's blushing, pouting face. "I'm sure we can find some way to capture everyone in one shot, can we, mister cameraman?"_

_The man laughs wholeheartedly. "No need to worry, milady. I've got you all just fine. Just let me step back a bit, and…there we go! Perfect!"_

_"I told you he could squeeze me in," Selestine grumbles playfully to Yorihime._

_Eirin barks with laughter and wraps an arm around her sister's waist, pulling her closer. "I had a feeling you would! My sweet Selestine o' mine, big or small, you know how to wriggle in all the right places!"_

"Selestine?" Sakuya Izayoi pronounced out loud. The photograph shook between her fingers. "Why is she calling me Selestine…and not Sakuya?"

"Sakuya?" Aya asked, reaching out a hand.

Sakuya pushed it away and whirled on the vampire. "Milady, in all the years I've served you, I have never been to the Moon. So how is it," she swallowed thickly, "how is it I can recall something I've never done before?"

Remilia bit her lower lip and turned the other cheek.

Yukari took a long, slow draw from the teacup.

Aya and Momiji stayed their ground, watching the maid with rising uncertainty.

Sakuya's fingers crumbled the photograph against her hand. "Milady, why didn't you tell me? That…That I'm from the Moon?"

A low, tiny whine escaped the confines of the vampire's throat. Lips pursed together in a fine tight line, the corners pulling back in a frown.

"Talk to me, Milady. Please, I must know."

But Remilia refused to answer.

Sakuya rose, swiftly and suddenly, knocking the chair she had sat upon to the floor. "WHY WON'T YOU LOOK AT ME?" she cried. The sheer volume ricocheted all throughout the chamber. Every fairy servant in the vicinity ceased their activity and turned, stunned curiosity shocking them in their place.

Sakuya panted heavily, chest rising and falling in fast, labored motions. She reared up, eyes darting wildly at all those focused on her. "You two!" she said, twisting jerkily around at Aya and Momiji. "Tell me why! Tell me…tell me I'm imagining things! I'm not from the Moon; I've never set foot on it. It's a dead world. No one lives on it. There's no such thing as a Lunarian. I…I don't have any family! I migrated from the Border. I wanted to start a new life for myself! Tell me" she unwrapped the photograph with fumbling fingers and jabbed at the girl on the far left "Tell me that's some other person and not me!"

"But it is."

Sakuya whirled on Yukari Yakumo, fierce and beautiful and so very lost. "How would you know?"

"Because it is you," the border youkai said again. "You and no one else."

"You lie!"

"The last time I saw you, you were this high," Yukari indicated by placing a hand next to her knee. "You were very young, hardly a child, when your people fought against my forces. Eirin fought, too. It was the first time she ever held a gun, much less the bow and arrows she now carries. She was scared, but she went out into the battlefield, to protect her family, to protect you; so determined that the first thing she did was cut down the enemy and run directly to me."

"You bear no scars! You have no proof!"

"Right here." Yukari loosened the obi and opened the yukata. Above her breasts were three white pockmarks. "She got me in a moment of surprise, and three times it took before I could escape and keep on fighting."

"That still doesn't explain how you know me!"

"Are my words not proof enough? Words alone can be truth, lest you are an exceptionally good liar."

"Yet a lie told often enough becomes the truth," Sakuya countered bitterly. "I don't believe you."

"Then you may as well ignore what Remilia has to say."

"What?" Sakuya looked at the vampire, who was staring back at her. "But Milady knows everything there is to know about me."

"You tried to kill me," Remilia said emotionlessly. Met with her servant's incredulity, she continued. "It was on the night we found you. April sixteenth, nineteen-sixty. This oni girl came to us saying some metal thing had fallen from the sky. I went with her and showed where it was, but we when saw there was nothing was inside we headed back here. Halfway there you jumped out of the woods and attacked us. All you had to fight with were a holster of knives and that pocket-watch around your neck."

"The Luna Dial," Sakuya breathed.

"That's right. You would have succeeded in killing me, too, if it were not for that oni. We brought you to the mansion, tied you up to make sure you didn't pull any fast moves on us. When you awoke, you couldn't recall a single thing, not even the battle we had just fought. You hadn't a clue why you were in such a predicament. You were so…helpless." Her features softened. "I could have done away with you then and there. I planned on it…but I didn't. I took you in and made you into someone you never were to begin with. I gave you food, shelter, and companionship; I even gave you the name for which you are known for. You fought for me and, on several occasions, nearly died for me.

"I've been controlling your fate for forty years, Sakuya, and your loyalty has never wavered even as I drew away and left you to your own devices. But the times…they are a-changin', and with this slew of secrets now coming out in the open, your life will not be the same. It never _will_ be the same. However, I am not the person you should be asking for answers; neither should you ask Lady Yakumo. It's not our place to tell you. _That_ responsibility lies solely on Eirin Yagokoro."

"Eirin Yagokoro," Sakuya returned to the tengu. "And you say I can find her at Eientei, the place in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost?"

"Yeah," said Aya.

"Then please take me there."

"Wait, now?"

"She is the only person who will tell me who I am. Who I _truly_ am. The sooner we set out, the faster I will have those answers."

"I don't know if that's such a good idea," said Momiji.

"Would you not want to be told of everything if you were in my position?"

"Yes I do, but Eirin can't be trusted. Remember what we said about Reisen—"

"Regardless of the circumstances, I will go and seek Eirin Yagokoro. Please, do this on my behalf. If Miss Eirin speaks true then I want you there to record it in your notes, in case for one reason or another I should renounce myself."

"But Sakuya—"

"If that's what Sakuya wants, then we should respect it," Aya interrupted quickly. Her eyes met with those of Sakuya's. "It's her right to know."

Momiji motioned to argue, but the silent plea in the servant's gaze was too strong to ignore. Her ears flattened against her head. "Okay," she said petulantly. "We'll go with you."

"Thank you. Lady Yakumo, by your request, may we travel to Eientei via Gap?"

"Done and done." With a wave of the youkai's hand, a Gap opened and droned at her side. "This will take you right outside the entrance."

"Let us part, then," said Sakuya to the crow and wolf. "I shall return soon, Milady. The answers will be within my grasp."

Remilia could only hope so, as the Gap closed behind them.

* * *

Stepping through a Gap was like being slingshot from one point of altitude to another – that is, if a tengu wanted to fly higher, he would have allocate his strength into his wings and push against the weight; if he wanted to fly lower, he would have to let go of the weight and allow it to filter past his plumage. That was how Aya (and Momiji, to an extent) felt when they crossed the imaginary boundary of endless red eyes and among the crowded screen of trees in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Sakuya, however, was not possessed with the gift of flight, not unless she had the spell card that utilized such an activation and cool-down effect. It must have been her first time traversing the Gap (it was Aya and Momiji's first, as well), because her balance seemed off and the glaze in her eyes unfocused. Yet her stance on the matter did not change; whether or not the effects of Gap-hopping wore off in a few minutes or several hours, Sakuya was going to plow straight ahead.

"Are you sure?" Aya asked her when she brought it up. "It's no different from flying. We can wait until you're equilibrium's settled."

"I appreciate your concern, Miss Shameimaru, but this cannot wait," said the maid. "I must speak with Eirin at once."

They pushed past the thickets and onto the green courtyard of Eientei, Sakuya taking the lead. As soon as they entered, Aya and Momiji saw Tewi Inaba, the rabbit girl who was acquainted with Fujiwara no Mokou. She was sweeping the steps when Sakuya called out to her.

"You there!"

"Oh, a visitor! What can I do for y—_usakuso!_" Tewi dropped the broom she was holding and gawked at the silver-haired, blue-eyed girl. "It's…It's you! Y-You're the girl from that picture!"

"If indeed I am," said Sakuya, stopping at the foot of the porch steps. "Is Eirin Yagokoro available? If she is, I request her audience."

Tewi nodded vigorously. "Y-Yessum, she's here. I don't think she's terribly busy. L-Let me go fetch her an'…an'…_oooohhhh usakuso_, EIRIN!" She bolted inside, nearly tripping on her own feet. "EIRIN! GET OUT HERE!"

A knot twisted in Aya's stomach, a greasy snake which squirmed uncomfortably among the intestines. She shifted weight from one foot to the other, wondering to herself why all of a sudden she was feeling this way.

"Just what are you fretting about, Tewi?" drifted a familiar, superfluous voice. Eirin Yagokoro emerged from the House of Eternity, who was being tugged along by the sleeve by an anxious Tewi Inaba. "Of course we're going to have people come here if we're going to distribute medicine—"

That was when she saw Sakuya Izayoi and literally _stopped_.

"…Who are you?" the doctor asked emotionlessly.

"I am Sakuya Izayoi, a servant to the Scarlet Devil Remilia Scarlet of West Gensokyo. I presume you must be Doctor Eirin Yagokoro."

"Yes, I am. Is there something you need?"

"I have questions I need to ask you, Miss Yagokoro. Questions that I believe only you can answer."

"Ah, yes. How may I assist you, Miss Izayoi?"

Sakuya swept an arm behind her. "These two ladies came to me bearing information about the Moon. Among their findings was a photograph of four girls. One of them is you, and the other…they say the other girl is me. I…I don't know if I should believe them, or if I should even want to. I have lived on the earth for forty years, and yet…when I looked upon this image, I had a clear memory of it; the day this was captured."

"May I see it?"

"Please."

Eirin descended the porch and closed the distance, step by step by step. Within seconds she was in front of Sakuya Izayoi, standing above her by a head's height.

Sakuya passed the photo into her hands. "Those other two girls…I recall they were talking about me, how I would not be able to fit in if I stood next to you. And yet they – you – did not call me Sakuya, but by another name. A named spelled Selestine."

Eirin did not answer as she continued to study the picture.

"I'm not sure if you recall exactly as I, but…I feel lost. It's as if a whole new world I didn't know existed has shed its light on me. I don't know if I should go toward it."

Eirin lowered the photograph, held it in loose fingers. "I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to tell me. If you're looking to retrieve more of these suppressed memories, I can prescribe you with—"

"I am not asking for a prescription, but for your guidance." Sakura stared into her eyes; eyes that she noted were the exact same shade of blue as her own. "Eirin Yagokoro, what is the relation between you and me? You called me Selestine, held me against you as if we were the closest of friends, told me I was your 'sweet Selestine o' mine.' This is the first time I have interacted with you, yet my body, my heart, feels as though we have known each other for so much longer." Her fists clenched. "Please Eirin, you must tell me! Tell me why I have this memory! Tell me what I am to y—"

Eirin's hand cracked across her face like a serpent.

"Holy shit!" Aya yelled, jumping back.

"E-Eirin!" Tewi shouted.

Momiji's lips curled over pink gums, tail bristling.

Sakuya lifted a shaking hand and touched the reddening mark on her cheek. "Wh…Wha…?"

"I know _nothing_ about you," the doctor hissed. "I have never _heard of you_. What would make you _think_ I know you by a single iota?"

"Yukari Yakumo," the maid forced out. "She said you protected me from her—"

"I WOULD NEVER PROTECT SCUM LIKE YOU!" Eirin roared, her face contorting nastily. "Those who defy, those who cheat, those who rebel, those who know not their place, they are not worth the salt they are! But liars – oh, those dreadful liars – they are the worst of the lot! Those who lie for the sake of themselves should be put to death, pinned to the wall and shot senseless until their bodies drain with the putrescence of their filth and selfishness!"

"If that is so," said Sakuya in an even tone, "then you deserve to die for your lack of honesty."

Eirin gasped with a look of pure scandalized shock.

Aya couldn't take it anymore. The knot was wringing itself so damn tightly, squeezing her intestines into a design she might not untangle. So she approached the two women, hands raised in a placated gesture. "Now now, ladies, I think if we take a nice, deep breath and talk more civil-like, we can put this behind us—"

Eirin didn't listen. Her fist slammed against Sakuya's jaw and sent her stumbling back.

"Shit! Sakuya!" cried Aya.

"Eirin!" said Tewi.

Sakuya didn't have the chance to recover. Eirin was on her in an instant, throwing punch after punch across her face. Each blow made stars explode in her eyes. She attempted to raise her arms, but Eirin pushed them up and away with her own. A punch to the abdomen knocked the wind from her lungs, then with an uppercut that jacked her head back and a spinning roundhouse to the neck she was sent flying and rolling across the ground.

"Sakuya!" "Eirin!" Aya and Tewi dashed toward them.

"Aya, Tewi, don't!" said Momiji.

Eirin charged after Sakuya, arms tucked in and body tilted low to the ground. Sakuya pushed herself up to her feet and blocked the machine-gun onslaught, arms crossed in front of her. Each blow struck harder and faster against her skin, vibrating in her bones and moaning like the damned.

Eirin's knee connected with her stomach. The impact was so sudden and so fierce Sakuya coughed blood and doubled over. Eirin hammered her to the courtyard floor with a hammer punch over the back of the girl's head. The doctor canted her hip and raised her leg.

"Sakuya, above you!" The maid lifted her eyes, saw the elder's heel come crashing down...

"SAKUYA!"

The axe kick stabbed into an empty space.

"Wh-What?" Eirin snarled. Wind whistled right past her eye, a gleam of silver.

She spun around. Clutched in between Sakuya's fingers and catching the daylight was a series of knives.

Beneath a curtain of ivory tresses was a pair of narrowed crimson eyes.

Eirin yelled angrily and rushed forward. As if it were a signal to some great event Sakuya launched the blades, first one arm and then the other. She unhooked the holsters at her thighs, snatched the knives out and flung them. Then she reached behind to the bow tied at her waist and unleashed a third volley. The air was alive with the sound of flashing, trilling metal.

Eirin moved like a dancer. She ducked and weaved amidst the projectiles, threading as a darning needle would to a tear in clothing. Drawing closer with each pounding step, Eirin reared back her fist and struck—

It hit only air.

A knife keened over her shoulder, ripping the fabric. Eirin whirled round again, and there stood Sakuya, knives collected and primed to soar.

The doctor's azure irises flared blood-red. A snarl disfigured full pink lips. "DAMN YOU!" she bellowed, and the predator raced toward its prey.

Sakuya flexed her muscles and tossed the first set of blades.

"Sakuya, Eirin, that's enough!" Aya flashed into existence, appearing as if she were a mirage. She stood between Sakuya and Eirin, ruffled black wings and arms outstretched. "There's no need to fight like this!"

"Miss Shameimaru!" shouted Sakuya.

Aya cast a sidelong glance, noticed the knives looming at her. Her eyes widened but then were squeezed shut as Eirin tackled her to the ground. She fought and wrestled, bucked her hips to throw the older woman's weight off. The doctor's knees snuffed her efforts of escape, locked them together on both sides of her torso. Fingers grabbed her throat and clamped down. Aya's hands latched onto the wrist and tugged, tugged, tugged.

"AYA!" screamed Momiji. She unsheathed her sword and brought up her shield.

"I shouldn't have let you go," Eirin growled down at the squirming crow. "I shouldn't have let you and that damn dog walk away from me. But I don't need a seal to crush your throat; no, no, I know a better way to deal with scum like _you_." She dug inside her lab coat and pulled a slim, metallic, cylinder object.

It was a gun.

She pressed the barrel between Aya's eyes, grinned at the terror dawning deliciously on the girl's face. "That's right, sweetie," she cooed. "Relax for me…."

"LET HER GO, EIRIN!" said Tewi. She grabbed the back of the doctor's collar and pulled. "NO MORE!"

"SHUT UP!" Eirin twisted her body round, aimed the gun at the Earthborne rabbit, and cocked the hammer back, index finger flushed on the trigger.

The shot never fired.

Sakuya plowed into Eirin, throwing the doctor off the tengu. The gun flew from her hand, winked in the daylight, and vanished into the thickets.

But the fight was only just begun. As soon as the two women rolled to a stop, they were on their feet and trading blows, disregarding knives and the spell card system in favor of brutal, old-fashioned fisticuffs.

"Why are you fighting them? Am I not your enemy, scum of the earth?" Sakuya snapped.

"It's their fault!" Eirin bit back. "I would still be living peacefully if it weren't for their meddling! I should have killed them! I should have killed Tewi and Reisen! I should kill everyone who harbors my secrets!"

"Then do yourself a favor and kill yourself if the burden is that troubling!"

"Never! I alone bear the weight of my sins!"

"What on Heaven and Earth is going on out here?" A black-haired girl in a flowing kimono ran onto the porch, followed by Reisen Udongein and a small collection of rabbits. Her demeanor shifted from wonderment to outright fury when she saw the fight unfolding just feet away. "Eirin Yagokoro! As your princess, I ORDER YOU TO CEASE THIS BEHAVIOR AND STAND DOWN AT ONCE!"

Her voice cut through the air like a siren. Both fighters stopped at once – the point of Sakuya's knifepoint to the doctor's eye, and Eirin's thumb and forefinger gripped over the maid's carotid arteries.

For a moment, no one moved.

Eirin glared at the dark-haired princess out of the corner of one eye, a flower in bright bloody bloom. "Stay out of this, Kaguya. This does not concern you."

"Do you realize who you're attacking?" the girl, Kaguya, cried. "Do you even remember that girl's face? That girl is the only family you have left, the only person who hasn't turned her back on you! That girl…she is your younger sister!"

The knife slipped from Sakuya's hand. "…Younger…sister?"

"You think I don't know that?" said Eirin. "Of course she's my sister! I won't deny it! However, the last thing I wanted is for _her_ to remember let alone find me! By all accounts she should be dead! And I…I will finish what I started forty years ago, right here, right now!" She tightened her grip.

Kaguya raised her hand and fired a single _danmaku_ bullet. It homed in and exploded against the bend of Eirin's arm. The doctor yelped, releasing Sakuya in the process. A second bullet collided with her legs and forced her down on one knee. "You will do no such thing!" the Lunarian princess intoned. "If you are so intent on tying loose ends, I suggest you impart to Selestine the lives she had previously lived!"

"Previous lives…?"

"I will _not_ tell this girl about her personal life!" Eirin exclaimed. "She's not worth my time and she never will be!"

"Then you should have refused Higa's offer and let her be," Kaguya said sadly. "However, Higa is not the problem. You deliberately attacked these girls with the purpose to kill in order to preserve your shame. I had hoped this would never happen, but you have proven me wrong." She sighed, folded her arms in the kimono's sleeves. "I'm sorry, Eirin, but I cannot allow you to continue living among us in Eientei. This habit of false pretenses has gone on long enough, and I…I grow tired of it."

"You can't do this to me!" Eirin complained. "No one else can treat the weak and ill as well as me! Eientei is my home! I know no other place!"

"That is the price you must pay for your actions. I'm giving you until midnight to pack your belongings and leave. If you are still here by then, I will make you my enemy and chase you off this property."

"Kaguya…!"

"Do not try to sway me, Eirin. My mind is already set."

"I don't believe this. This is your fault!" Eirin whipped her head round on Aya and Momiji. "It's because of your meddling I have been undone! And you!" She glared venomously at Sakuya. "May there be a pox on you and all who you know and love! I pray you meet a grisly end!"

"That's enough, Eirin," Kaguya commanded. "Ladies from beyond the forest," she called to the servant and the tengu. "I apologize for the trouble my friend has caused you. My heart is gladdened to know you are well. Unfortunately, as much as I wish to hear your side of the story, I must ask that you leave Eientei at once. This is a matter I alone must resolve, and I hope you understand I mean no ill-will behind my words."

Sakuya only nodded, Momiji too. Aya was too sore to make the motion.

"Good. Tewi, please escort these ladies to the forest entrance. Everyone go back inside, you too, Reisen. I need to have a word with Eirin."

"By your leave, Princess." The Earthborne rabbit waved to the trio. "Let's go, girls."

"You all right?" Momiji asked Aya as she pulled the crow tengu to her feet.

Aya dusted herself off, folded her wings in. "Yeah, I think so. What about you, Saku…ya…?" The maid brushed past her without a word, limping along on an ankle that had to have been twisted during the resulting fight.

But in that moment, as their paths crossed, Aya saw something in those blue eyes. Something soft, fragile, and porcelain.

It was a look of one with the weight of the world on her shoulders.

That moment only lasted a second, but Aya had caught it. Sakuya's face may be carved from stone, but it was there, shining like twin lighthouse beacons in the stygian dark.

The knot in her belly may have loosened, but it didn't make the discomfort anymore tolerable than when Eirin had cast aside the sheep's skin and revealed to everyone not who she was but _what_ she was.

"C'mon," Aya was brought to reality by Momiji, who touched her arm and nodded at Sakuya and Tewi's retreating backs.

Aya nodded, cast one last wondering glance in Eirin's direction, and followed her colleague into the bamboo forest.

The sensation of eyes never left the back of her head.


	12. XII: Bonds of a Family

**Disclaimer: **All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**XII.  
**_Bonds of a Family_

Sakuya hardly said a word on their journey back. She had only spoken once, right as Tewi led them out of the forest and bade them farewell. Sakuya hadn't thought to bring any spell cards with her (nothing had interfered with the peace the manor settled into following the return of the spring season), so she could not fly nor walk on a sprained ankle.

Aya and Momiji offered to carry her with the power of flight. The maid did not object, just nodded her head and held her arms out at her side. The crow and the wolf hooked one arm around her shoulders and, with Aya's wings and Momiji's spell card, took to the skies.

By mid-afternoon the mansion was in sight. Circling south and west, they touched the damp dirt road. Adjusting the weight of the girl between them, the trio started forward, step by coordinated step.

As they approached the gates Hong Meiling, who was at her post and awake, pushed off the brick pillar and ran up to them. "Sakuya, what happened to you? You look like you went to hell and back!"

"Eirin happened, that's what," Aya said tiredly.

"Eirin?" Meiling looked at Sakuya's downcast face; saw the angry bruises purpling on the girl's jaw and cheeks. "She did this to you? I don't understand. You asked her, didn't you? Why would she do this?" So Remilia had told Meiling about the interview her servant had.

"Because Eirin doesn't want to look at the past," said Momiji brusquely. At the gatekeeper's strange look, she went on: "Eirin is Sakuya's older sister. Eirin didn't want to _see_ Sakuya, so she tried to kill her _and_ Aya."

"But…But why?"

"Liars who lie often believe their lies to be the truth and nothing but. I would guess it's because some secrets, like Eirin's, don't want to be known by outsiders who have the evidence that tell otherwise."

"Sakuya." Meiling put a hand under the maid's chin and lifted her head. The stare she received was devoid of life. "Sakuya, are you okay? What's wrong?"

"She's been like this since we left," said Aya. "I think…with the adrenaline of the fight wearing off, she's gone into shock."

Meiling sniffed and clenched her fists. "This isn't fair," she said in a tight voice. "This just isn't fair."

"Miss Meiling, we need to let Lady Scarlet know of our return," said Momiji. "Please take us there, for Sakuya's sake."

The gate guard scrubbed a hand across her eyes, sniffed again, and nodded. "Anything for Sakuya's friends. Let me take her." The tengu passed Sakuya into Meiling's arms, and together they passed through the gates and into the mansion.

"Sakuya!" called the voice of Remilia Scarlet. "Sakuya, is that you?"

"Over here, Milady," Meiling hailed the vampire.

Remilia came running out of the dining hall. "What's wrong with her?"

"Sakuya was attacked," said Momiji. "Eirin refused to listen and attempted to kill her."

"How dare her!" Remilia raged. "To do such a thing to my most trusted servant...that two-faced bitch is asking for war!"

"Picking a fight should be the least of your concerns, Lady Scarlet," said Aya. "Can't you see the state Sakuya's in?"

"No one lays a hand on _my_ servant! Not you, not your friend, not the fairies, not Meiling, not Patchouli, no one! A person who targets a member of the family targets all of us! I don't care who Eirin Yagokoro is; come nightfall, her head will be MINE!"

"Miss Tengu has a point, Milady," said Meiling. "I understand your frustrations, but this isn't the way to go about it! Imagine how Sakuya would feel if she heard you say those things about her sister!"

Remilia laughed. "Sister? That woman is a liar! A cheater, a swindler, a murderer, and a breaker of taboos! A family may fight and argue, but in the end a family sticks together. Family members protect each other, care for one another. That's why the big sister is born first! Big sisters watch out for their little sisters no matter what! A sister never ever threatens the life of another sister! And Eirin Yagokoro…is not that kind of sister! She is not Sakuya's family!"

"You're not taking Sakuya into consideration!"

The vampire unfurled her webbed black wings, half-raised and poised to strike. "You are not the master of this manor! You are not the one in control of destiny! If I deem it Eirin's fate to die by my hand, so be it! If I deem it Sakuya's fate to kill _her sister_, so be it! If I deem it _your_ fate to obey your mistress word for word, then so be it! The same goes to Shameimaru and Inubashiri!"

Meiling frowned. In a move that shocked Aya and Momiji, the gatekeeper pressed Sakuya's body against her bosom and took one step forward. "Then…I will challenge that fate and make you see the error in your words."

Remilia flashed her fangs, wings flapping menacingly. "You dare to defy me, Dragon of China? Hmph, be that way. I'll be happy to bite you to death!"

"…I won't allow it."

"Sakuya!" Aya and Momiji gathered around Meiling. Sakuya squirmed in the redhead's arms, but she did not meet their eyes. Her face buried deeper in the guard's chest. "I don't want you to fight. I don't want anyone to fight. I…I hate fighting."

"Sakuya, is Eirin still at Eientei?" Remilia asked with the tone of a worried and upset parent. "If she is, then you need only point me the direction. I'll give her a licking she won't forget!"

"I won't tell you. I won't allow any fighting to occur."

"Are you kidding me? Look at what she's done to you! She must have hit you so hard the marbles in your head are starting to run loose!"

"Well, I think I've lost those marbles a long time ago. An insane person knows when she's insane, Milady. You've seen it yourself, just look at Flandre. Locked away for hundreds of years with nary any interaction, I'm surprised you haven't put her down yet."

"_WHAT?_" The word echoed like church bells sounding the alarm of an invasion. "You…I may have told you about my and Flandre's turning, but you don't know jack-squat about us! You can't imagine the shit we went through just to make it through the day! I had to do all the hunting and killing to bring in food. I was the one who had to go out and find medicine for my sister when she caught the plague! I was the one who stopped her from wiping scores of villages off the map when the hunger became too much! I locked Flandre up because I want to protect everyone for her own good!"

"You can't say the thought hasn't crossed your mind, Milady. Big sisters protect their little sisters, remember? You said so yourself."

Remilia sputtered, stumbling back as if she had been struck. "You're wrong! I've never…I wouldn't…!"

Sakuya chuckled darkly. "I rest my case."

The anger drained from Remilia's features like liquid sucked through a straw. Her wings retracted their threatening posture and drooped as a flower that has been starved of water. She turned her back on the quartet. "Get her out of here, Meiling," the Scarlet Devil rumbled. "I don't want to look at her."

"But Milady—"

"Didn't you hear me? Get that girl out of here, before I change my mind and kick her ass!"

"Go on, Meiling," Sakuya said quietly. "Put me down."

"Are you sure you can walk?" Momiji asked.

"I think I'll manage. Meiling, what are you waiting for? Put me down right now."

Meiling flinched at the irate forcefulness, but she relented. She gently lowered the maid to her feet. Sakuya wobbled unsteadily and turned in the direction of the adjoining hallway by one of the staircase. Her hair blocked any hint of emotion in her eyes. "Miss Shameimaru, thank you for defending me. However…I don't think I can thank you for attempting to put a stop the fight. I apologize if my words hurt you. If you'll excuse me, I should like to be by myself. Many thanks for accompanying me, Miss Shameimaru, Miss Inubashiri, though the encounter was…not what I expected." She walked away, limping.

"What was that just now?" Meiling wondered aloud, more to herself than to the tengu. "I've never seen Sakuya behave that way around you, Milady."

Remilia scoffed. "It's not my problem anymore. You shouldn't make it yours, either."

"Milady…?"

"You two, the bird and the dog. There's nothing else for you to do here," Remilia said. "Your scoop isn't worth the printing paper. I suggest you close the book on it and look for something else."

Aya was taken aback, no, almost livid, at the thought. "We need more than written information to publish it. You can't tell us to drop one story and start another, not when we've gotten this far!"

"Yeah, you're right," the vampire acquiesced. "I don't have any right to say what you should or shouldn't do. But within these walls, _I_ am the queen of this domain. Sakuya is family, and as the matriarch of this family I will do whatever it takes to protect them…even if I have to hurt outsiders or another family member to accomplish it." She started walking. "It's not blood that keeps two people together, but the bond for which they share. It's a chain you can tangle up but can never break, not unless you desire to destroy the heart that keeps you alive."

"Lady Remilia—" Meiling began.

"You've got a gate to guard, dragon. Show those two the way out and resume your position." And, as if she had read the girl's thoughts: "You leave Sakuya alone. That's an order." She entered the dining hall, and as if by magic the doors slammed softly behind her.

Aya almost threw her hat off in frustration; instead she squeezed her hands into tight balls and stomped her foot. "So that's it? This is how our story's supposed to end? You're just gonna tell me to abandon Sakuya as she is?" She screamed this last bit at the closed portals. "Remilia!"

"It's no use," Meiling said. "Once the Mistress has made up her mind, there's no changing it. I know you want to help, Miss Tengu, but I doubt Sakuya's in any mood to talk much less see anyone at this time. I'm sure she's had it rough, what with the…_complications_ she's faced."

"Then it's just as Lady Scarlet said," said Momiji. "At least not now."

"I'm afraid so."

Aya cursed Remilia Scarlet's name. She whirled briskly on her heel, not sparing the girls a second glance. "Let's go, Momiji. We can show ourselves the way out."

Momiji didn't wish to make Aya more upset as she was. She thanked Meiling for her services and bid her goodbye.

"Aya!" she called out, hurrying down the steps and across the courtyard. "Aya, wait!" The wolf caught up to the crow, keeping abreast with the pace. "She never said we could stop writing. We can continue; we just need a few days for this to blow over—"

"I can't wait a few days!" Aya barked, whirling on Momiji. Her normally docile eyes were clouded with confliction, an emotion she rarely if ever displayed. "We're on to something, don't you see? That picture Reisen gave us showed Sakuya a glimpse of the life she's missed out on! We need her to cooperate, we need her to look deeper and uncover any other memories that may have surfaced from Eirin's revelations!"

"Which is why I'm saying we should give everyone a wide berth and let the storm ride itself out. They didn't expect any of this to happen, and I don't blame Lady Scarlet for reacting in such a manner. This was a secret she had under wraps for _forty years_."

Aya scoffed. "There's no such thing as secrets, Momiji; it's just another word for the truth." She unfurled her own wings with a crack-like snap and turned away again, but Momiji caught the leaden weariness sobering her face at the last second. "Everything else holds little meaning," the crow tengu murmured softly.

She spoke no more for the rest of the day.

* * *

(In all her one thousand years of living, Aya Shameimaru had never felt more conflicted. However, it will not be the last time she will encounter a moment quite like the one she experienced at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

(Lies may wound, but truths will scar. No salve or poultice can heal such hurts, not even mistakes from the past.

(And because of those mistakes, the innocent and the damned will suffer…and remember.)


	13. Epilogue: Honest Hearts

**Disclaimer:** All characters and locations belong to their respective owners.

* * *

**Epilogue  
**_Honest Hearts_

The rest of the day had flown by without a care in the world, and it was with this metamorphosis in time that Remilia Scarlet was thankful for the onset of night. The transition from afternoon to evening was lost upon her; no sooner did the heavy double doors close behind her did she march past a throng of worried fairies and lock herself in the confines of her bedroom. The room was at the west wing of the mansion, situated below the roof with only a single window that when opened would provide a marvelous panorama of Gensokyo's hillocks and copses.

This was where she sat, one leg dangling over the sill, wingtips draped over her shoulders, gazing out into the dead of night. The stars burned, cold and unforgiving.

"You did the right thing, big sis~" sang a familiar voice.

Remilia jumped and turned her head aside. "Flandre! What are you…? You're not supposed to be up here!"

"Since when did seeing my big sister become a crime?" the younger vampire asked. She walked up to the window, put her arms on the sill and stuck her head out. She took a deep breath, held it, exhaled. "The air smells so cool 'n' clean~"

"It's those damn ice fairies and their dumb cannon," Remilia grumbled. "They don't know when to leave us alone."

"You mean they don't know any better," said Flandre, "because they choose to ignore your warnings. Do you know why?"

"Because they're idiots?"

Flandre smirked. "May~be~…but that's not why. The fairies continue to bombard the lake because you don't carry out those threats. You have to show them you mean what you say. Only then will they listen."

"…Like with the dog and the bird."

Ruby red eyes sparkled. The glass crystals clinked together as the wings they were attached to stretched their full length. "Yes. Just like Jiji and Yaya."

Remilia heaved a sigh. Silence hung between them like wet clothing.

"Sis."

"Hmm? What?"

"Would you have killed me if you had the chance?"

The elder grimaced. "Flandre, I don't want to talk about it—"

"You've thought about it, haven't you? Be honest, big sis. The truth will set you free~"

Would it really? Remilia put a hand to her forehead, tucked some lavender strands behind her ear. She didn't say anything. Flandre didn't repeat herself; she waited, still like stone, gaze riveted to the black night.

After a long time, she relented: "…Yeah. Yeah, I would. The thought's crossed my mind a few times. I figured…if I killed you…I'd be doing us both a favor. You not having to suffer and me not" she swallowed thickly "not having to put up with you," she whispered, and bowed her head.

Flandre said nothing. Her wings flapped once, twice, thrice. Her face betrayed no emotion.

Again that insufferable quiet.

Again that cold, dead exterior.

Remilia wanted Flandre to speak. To say something, say anything. She wanted to see her rage, see her cry, feed on her hate and drink in her despair. She didn't care what it was as long as she took the brunt of that pain.

And still there was nothing.

And not for the first time in her elongated life, Remilia Scarlet despised her sister.

And not for the last time, Remilia Scarlet hated herself and felt ashamed.

"I'm sorry," she said softly.

Flandre cocked her head at her. "Why should you be? There's nothing wrong with being selfish. It means you're human."

"Wanting your sister dead doesn't make you human. It makes you a monster." Her features hardened. "Eirin is a monster. I'm not."

"Look beneath the flesh and you will see we're all the same. We're ugly no matter which way you hold the picture." Flandre scraped the tip of a fang along the length of her thumb and watched the liquid red bead to the surface, like magma in an active volcano. She held her hand out into the moonlight, showing and not showing Remilia the pale marble of her skin, the transparent film glossed over blue-green veins pumping into a heart twisted and ravaged by the curse. "History is written not in ink but in blood, carved in swords and bullets and pens. We bleed the same and we die the same. The only things that distinguish one person from the other are her race…and the choices she makes."

She licked the cut clean, wet her lips, and smiled. "The smallest action can change the world, sis. Didn't you know that when you forced the lunar phase, the sun and earth's orbit, and the fates of everyone in Gensokyo back by two months?"

To say Remilia was shocked would be an understatement. It would eclipse the moon if it were visible. "How did you…? No…that's impossible. You were still locked in the basement, so you couldn't have—"

The smile split into a grin. A petite hand slipped into the band holding her high ponytail and produced a slender metal object. It was a file. "One person's trash is another person's treasure, ufufu~ I come and go whenever I please...but you needn't worry, big sis. I am quite comfortable with the abode you have given me. Home, after all, is where one feels safest."

Remilia raised a finger and opened her mouth in protest, then thought better and closed it. "You're too smart for your own good," she grumbled.

Flandre Scarlet giggled girlishly. "That's what little sisters are for~ we're there to keep our big sisters in line…lest they forget who they are."

"I haven't forgotten who I am."

"One could say that consciously dictating the future and the flow of providence would make you divine…but that person would be wrong. Power can make the most intelligent creature fallible. The more power you have the more vulnerable you become." Eyes as rich as wine and deep as the sea gleamed knowingly, "You are no exception. Neither am I. Nor is Sakuya; without that watch, she's nothing more than an ordinary mortal. Without Vlad's curse, we would long be dead."

"You know too much," said Remilia. "You're not supposed to…but when you live five centuries past your due date, well, what can you do?" She shrugged. "Forty years doesn't feel like such a long time, does it? Until a few days ago Sakuya has never questioned herself nor has she ever asked why she was suddenly in a world ruled by youkai, more or less in the service of a vampire. Then Lady Yakumo and the brats come along; add that patsy doctor into the mix and they turn everything I had instilled in her into a hot steaming pile of shit. Can you imagine the damage they've wrought?"

Flandre blinked lazily, adopting the moue of a bored scholar. "Can you? You did lie, and lying isn't a very nice thing to do~"

"No. No, it isn't, but telling the truth isn't always cathartic. Sometimes it makes you feel worse."

"Or better~"

"…Or better. Not everything is as black and white as they seem." Remilia sighed again and laid her head against the window pane. She closed her eyes momentarily then opened them. "I just want to forget this ever happened, you know? I put my life on the line to see into the flow of time and slake my curiosity, and though what I saw wasn't definite I thought it would be a good idea to manipulate all the fates involved as close as possible to that strand." She fell silent. "I didn't think expect things to turn out this way."

"No one can," said Flandre. She pushed off the counter, undid the latch locking the window, and pushed the panes aside. A warm breeze fluttered inside like a bird coming in for a landing. She stepped through the opening and flexed those abnormal wings with a few experimental flaps. "Reality is never just the way we want it to be, but we still keep trying anyway. Wherever we go" and she turned to Remilia, a sadly conservative smile on her lips "nothing—and no one—ever stays the same~"

* * *

On the other side of Gensokyo, isolated from civilization in a forest of ancient bamboo, Kaguya and Reisen were also gazing up at the stars. They sat on the veranda, a plate of rice cakes and oolong tea between them. They had been forgotten for some time, half-eaten and growing cold.

"I wonder," began Reisen, "how much has changed since then? I wonder if things have settled down."

"I caused a lot of political upheaval when I drank the Hourai elixir," said Kaguya. "No leader rules forever, not even a royal family descended from gods. When the Silver Millennium burned, so too did the king and his kin. There was hardly a trace to be found of that era when I was a girl." She remembered her drink and took a pull from the saucer. "I don't think I would recognize anything from one thousand years ago."

"I wouldn't know, either. The government was still the same before Eirin and I were sentenced; power was being distributed between Lord Tsukuyomi and the consul-generals, although the former had the final say in a majority of issues. He had already chosen a successor when the Apollo 13 was diverted, but that person had been killed in the riots that occurred afterward. He may have stepped down later on, maybe not, but I'll say this: what Eirin did after the Emergence has definitely left its mark, one which the world may never recover from."

Kaguya looked toward the bamboo forest, sipping absently. "I wouldn't doubt it. Breaching such laws is a serious offense punishable only by death. Any other person would have executed her for even suggesting the idea…but not Tsukuyomi. He and Eirin are practically family. He would never let a hair on her head be out of place."

Reisen leaned back on her hands. One slender ear drooped despondently against her head. "I can't imagine what it's like back home. Things were so simple back then."

"It must be harder on Selestine, drifting from one life to the next unaware of the circumstances responsible for those transitions. But I'm not surprised. Her lives have been built on the foundation of lies. Higa put them in place to protect Eirin from the harsh truth staring her right in the face…and to further his own agenda."

"It worked, alright. Look where that's brought us."

Kaguya set the saucer back on its place and folded her arms into the kimono's long sleeves, a tell-tale gesture that she was in deep thought. "No one is perfect, not even the genius Yagokoro Eirin. Some people will say when things are out of control you don't have a choice and that you won't be held accountable, and that's what I thought when you first told me your tale. But when I look back on it, I can say she had one. She made it and now she and everyone involved must suffer for it, even one as innocent as Selestine. She deserves better than this." And like the first ray of dawn setting the horizon afire, realization lit her whole face. "Those girls need to know." She rose to her full height and proceeded into the mansion.

Reisen followed after her. "Milady, where are you going?"

"Words can't explain what the Moon is like," said Kaguya. "To see the Moon, to understand its people and its history, one must experience it." She opened the shoji door to her room. In one corner of the room under a window was a large chest made from bamboo and hardwood.

Kaguya went over and knelt before it. From her obi she extracted a small square handle. With a flick of her thumb the switchblade flipped out, pure cold steel shining silver in the dark.

"Milady!" Reisen exclaimed. She had just entered the room when the Lunar princess put the weapon to her palm. "What are you doing?"

"Unlike Higa, I put my blood to good use. Deprecated as it is, there are many ways one can safely utilize blood magic. Like so," and in one swift, flawless stroke she sliced through the skin. Blood gushed freely from the wound. She dabbed her fingertips in it and, with rivulets running down her wrist, pressed them against the center of the chest.

It glowed a ruddy red light as it reacted to the noble blood. There was the sound of gears grinding together and then a crisp snap of something being unlocked. Kaguya removed her hand and the light disappeared at the loss of contact. She opened the chest and pulled from its depths a voluminous tome. "Here we go," she said breathily. "It's almost feels as though I'm back on the Moon, perusing my academic studies in the Selena Collegium. Those days…they seem more dream than reality."

"What is that?" Reisen asked over her shoulder. The tome appeared as if it hadn't been used in ages, but there were signs of wear and tear made in a previous life long ago.

Kaguya caressed the blood-streaked cover reverently. "This, old friend, is the Houraisan family grimoire. Every spell is recorded in here: the ancient, the obscure, and the forbidden, from the end of the Silver Millennium to the rise of the Commonwealths. I had a hand in putting pen to paper a few of my own tricks."

The Moon rabbit whistled, impressed. "No kidding? What kind of spells did you make?"

"Nothing too powerful, mostly charms and basic time manipulation glamours; this was well before temporal magic was banned from all guilds and declared a class-G felony." She stood up, turned around. "This will help us. This will help those girls. But most of all, it will help Selestine."

"How so?"

"If memory serves me right, there should be a spell that will aid them more than anything we will say about the Moon. And for this to work, I will need your assistance."

* * *

At the same time, in the kappa springs at the base of Youkai Mountain, the lights in Nitori's workshop were on. She was perched on a high stool fiddling with the innards of an alarm clock, the fluorescent bulbs droning tunelessly above her.

Behind her, seated on an empty crate, Suika sipped sparingly from her gourd. "Whaddya think's on the Moon?"

Nitori shrugged. "I don't know. There must certainly be life up there. As far as I'm aware the planet only has one satellite."

"I bet," said Suika, "they have beer. Tons of it. Made o' mochi a-an' dango, o-o-or red bean paste. Mayhaps they even have beer…made from _moonrocks_. Ah, ah? Wha' say you, Neet-Neet?"

"It's possible." The kappa set down the screwdriver and picked up a pair of tweezers, going about the task of separating the tangled wires. "There is also the possibility there may not be. No beer means nobody to make it. Indeed, what can exist in the cold endless vacuum of space but bacteria? The chances of making contact with extraterrestrial life are very slim."

"Yeah, about that…I was thinkin' o' that, er, _machine_I told you 'bout the other day. The one that fell from the sky? Well what if it did come from the Moon, huh? There's gotta be somethin' on it showin' whoever built it. What's the term for it…'s on the tip of me tongue…" She snapped her fingers. "The brand name! That's it! Gotta be on there somewhere, providing it hasn't been touched all these years…."

As Suika was talking Nitori stopped, an idea forming in her head. She spun around, asking, "Do you know where it is? The machine?"

The oni ceased her monologue and looked up from peering into the bottle. "Eh? Oh yeah, I 'member where it's at. Quite a ways out but I know those fields like the back of me hand."

The kappa jumped off the stool and went to a locker adjacent to the sole window overlooking the cucumber trellises. She threw wide its doors and plunged into the clutter. "I want you to take me to it, but I want to wait 'til morning where I can see I'm going."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Nitori plucked something from the heap of scrap metal and closed the locker. "It means I'm going to save us some time. Look!" She held out her hand, grinning broadly.

Suika leaned forward, sipped her drink, blinking curiously. "It's a garage door opener, innit?"

"Not just any garage door opener! This is the remote that will unlock the shack to the _Hanzaki Dreamer_!"

"And we're gonna fly in it? I dunno, Neet-Neet. Yer aeroplanes ain't exactly what I call 'state-of-the-art'."

"The _Hanzaki Dreamer_ is different. It's the only one of its kind that hasn't crashed immediately after take-off. With this we can cross the heartlands in no time!"

"Providing it don't fall apart under our feet!" Another pull, and Suika was shaking the gourd at her friend in a no-nonsense manner. "'Sides, how'm I gonna show ye where the machine is if we're riding air? You gotta focus on all those doodads and thingamabobs that make the plane work. And, well, y'know, I'm almost ne'er sober so my sight is more or less mucked up…d-don't gimme that look, we oni can't go a day without our juice! 'S why we're exceptionally adept at Zui Quan."

Nitori stowed the remote control in one of the numerous jacket pockets. "No need to be concerned. Unlike most of the prototypes, the _Hanzaki Dreamer_ has a built-in CPU and radar system designed by yours truly! It can't pinpoint the exact location of where you want to go, but with your help I can punch in the coordinates to the closest place we can land and set out for the machine."

"Still don't know if this is a good idea..."

"We won't know unless we give it a shot. What can go wrong?" Suika gave her a flat stare. "Okay, a lot can go wrong, but this prototype has potential! We may have only one chance at this. What do you say? Are you with me?"

"Hell's yeah I'm with ya. I just hope you know what you're doing!"

Nitori clapped a reassuring hand on Suika's shoulder. "Leave it to me. I'm the one who's going to be piloting and making sure the plane holds during the trip. And if it does and we're still in one piece, I have a theory I'd like to put to the test."

"And what would that be?"

The kappa leaned back with arms akimbo and smiled, a spark of an idea flaring to life in her eyes. "I'm going to attempt to make contact with the Moon."

* * *

So the night passed in silence, and the world turned.

In the Forest of Magic, Kirisame Marisa slid down the tree and sank to her knees with a weary sigh. All around her were trees felled by the Hakkero, some arranged in stacked pyramids and others strewn about in disarray. Total darkness dominated the land save for the soft foxfire of interspersed fungi. She whipped off her hat and wiped the sweat from her brow, muscles heavy with lead and mana nearly spent to the last proverbial drop. She had never made a house before, more or less a log cabin, and throughout the past few days she wondered how she was going to go about laying out the foundation and construct the building from the ground up with the least amount of trouble.

Tilting her head back granted her an expansive view of the clear night sky, a panorama so still and peaceful she would've thought it had been painted on by the Hand of God. Staring at it reminded her of the day she had gone out to scavenge mushrooms to bake a pie when a certain maid had the great idea of sneaking into her home and steal her possessions while blowing it up in the process. Then those two tengu—who were they again? That's right, their names were Aya and Momiji—had happened upon the scene of destruction and had the gall to write a story for their paper and profit off her sudden homeless status. Marisa had chased them off her property and she hadn't seen fur or feather of them since, but she had heard snatches of conversation in the human village: of how busy they had been, flying across the heartlands and back on a story they had deemed the Big Scoop. She didn't deign to ask what this article was going to cover. The gossip and the day's events were enough to put two and two together, but the revelation sounded absurd and outlandish.

"What could they possibly find on the Moon?" she asked aloud. "There's nothing there…."

* * *

Close to the entrance of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, Fujiwara no Mokou sat high in a tree smoking a cigarette. She sucked in a lungful of air and blew a perfect O-shaped ring. It floated into the leaves and exploded in a soundless, vaporous Big Bang. The night was young, warm, and tense, wound tight like a virgin on the cusp of her first intercourse.

"And so the wheel turns," said the immortal, twirling the stick absentmindedly in her hand. She had heard what went down, listened to her workers their muted conversations as they labored at their stations and delivered to their hungry customers. They were confused and they feared what would become of the pharmacy now that its owner was gone.

She was not surprised. Mokou knew this day would come. The past couldn't stay hidden forever, that much was a given.

She tapped ash on an adjacent branch, jammed the cig between her teeth, and stretched out. "Run away as fast as you can, because sooner or later it's gonna catch up to you. And when it does, you'll have no choice but to face it."

* * *

At the same time, miles apart, Shameimaru Aya and Izayoi Sakuya lay in the dark, far too alert to let a spell like sleep overcome them.

As Momiji slept, Aya rifled through the pages in _"The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disasters"_. There was too much scientific jargon to make sense out of, but she wanted to distract herself from the troubling thoughts running rampant in her mind. Why was Eirin so adamant on killing Sakuya? What had Eirin done that murder was deemed a solution? And, as Aya closed the book in frustration and set it on the nightstand by the bed, who or what was Higa? None of this made any sense! How was she supposed to help if she had more questions than answers? If there was a way to shed light onto them she would do so in a heartbeat. Sakuya could not be denied her past. She had as much right to know as the ones who had instigated the whole thing. Aya vowed she would provide those answers, consequences be damned.

Meanwhile, in the psychedelic incandescence of a lava lamp, Sakuya studied the wrinkled, yellowed photograph with half-lidded eyes. The longer she stared at it the more she recalled bits and pieces of the life she once lead; for example, the picture had been taken four hundred sixty five years ago at the height of the winter solstice on a day when she and Eirin and the Watatsuki sisters spent the day experiencing the sights and sounds of Hub Prime. The next few weeks were proving to be busy and hectic, what with the start of the term at the Collegium and Eirin returning to work at the clinic after being off for the weekend, and she wanted something to remember by before they had to return to their respective vocations.

Four hundred sixty five years. In hindsight, it didn't even feel like it had been that long ago…but wouldn't the same be said for every youkai who lived well beyond the human lifetime? Where one could go through life in one moment and some centuries down the road she would reflect on it and be amazed at how fast and brief that time had been. Or perhaps she would see it as just that – a moment in time that could not be wholly captured, unable to be physically relived save through the senses replicated in her mental faculties.

She experienced such a thing, slideshow stills slipping between her fingers as though she held a hand full of sand. Flashes of the Serpent's Eye obelisk as it towered corporate high-rise. Phantom whiffs of basilisk meat popping and sizzling in a nearby restaurant. The incoherent babble of passersby and transportation, ringing and bubbling and humming in chaotic harmony. The silky smoothness of her fingers twined with those of her sister's….

_"Do you realize who you're attacking? Do you even remember that girl's face? That girl is the only family you have left, the only person who hasn't turned her back on you! That girl…she is your younger sister!"_

_"You think I don't know that? Of course she's my sister! I won't deny it! However, the last thing I wanted was for _her _to remember let alone find me! By all accounts she should be dead! And I…I will finish what I started forty years ago, right here, right now!"_

_"You will do no such thing! If you are so intent on tying loose ends, I suggest you impart to Selestine the lives she previously led!"_

_"I will _not_ tell this girl about her personal life! She's not worth my time and she never will be!"_

Sakuya sighed. With slow, careful movements she folded the photograph on itself. So many questions crowded her head. What had she done to fill Eirin with unbridled vitriol? What had she done to make the good doctor—her own flesh and blood—want to kill her? Why had Eirin waited forty years to put an end to what she supposedly started? What did the Lady Kaguya mean by 'previous lives?' What offer did this…Higa…propose to Eirin?

Where was Eirin now?

She did not think anymore on the subject. She placed the photograph on the end table next to the lamp and reclined on the bed. Soon she fell asleep, unaware that Hong Meiling was standing outside the door, worry and concern stamped on her face.

* * *

The sky was beginning to lighten, the stars slowly losing their luster. Through the dark canopy of spade-shaped leaves she spied the Moon cast in ashen earthshine; a sliver of a crescent radiated from the rays of a sun yet to reach its destination.

Yagokoro Eirin scowled at the ashen sphere before she gave herself a final once-over. Her bow was secured safely in its sling and the quiver of arrows strapped firmly to her back, the Kouchoumugan pills and various other beneficial pills tucked away in her hip satchel. Everything was in its proper place.

She reached in her button-down shirt and pulled out the pocket watch. Her thumb hit the tab and the cover popped open with a click. It was unremarkably plain in design, and it would have remained unremarkably so if not for the lack of the minute and hour hands. In their place was a small, round crystal, blue in color with faint concentric rings spreading outwards like ripples in water.

This was the source of her power, the pinnacle of her genius at the height of darkness. Despair, hate, and anger propelled her to create the flaming blade that severed all ties clinging to the last vestiges of her previous life. This had been a solution to the problem she had thought she solved, a failsafe that had gotten her out of many a bind during her tenure with Higa but one which no longer held any relevance upon arriving in Gensokyo. She had stored it away for safe keeping, hoping it would collect dust and never have to be used again.

Unfortunately the prodding of those two tengu had unraveled the knots in the peaceful sanctuary she had made for herself, and learning that Sakuya had survived only served to hasten its collapse.

That would just have to be amended.

Eirin closed the watch and restored it to its proper place, then set off towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

_To Be Continued_


End file.
